Rising property prices in the United States have been attracting more Chinese buyers and this has in turn boosted demand for residences in gateway cities other than the usual hotspots such as New York, according to data from juwai.com, a major overseas property information platform for buyers in China.

The data also revealed that cities like Miami, Houston and Chicago are among the emerging destinations for middle-class Chinese buyers,

“An interesting trend is that Chinese buyers rarely buy properties when the prices go down — they worry that prices may drop further if the market does not look bullish. When prices recover, their intentions begin to grow as well,” said Jeremy Lynn, a sales assistant at a Chicago-based property developer.

“Chinese buyers have been showing great interest in US properties in recent years. I see more visitors coming to the overseas properties seminars and introduction sessions, and they are keen to know more about property price trends in their favored destinations,” added Lynn, who travels to Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou every summer to promote new projects in the US.

According to data by CoreLogic DataQuick, a real estate information services provider, the average prices of homes in the US have been rising for 39 consecutive months as of July this year, and the prices in some locations have also seen increases of more than 10 percent year-on-year. Research by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) indicated that about 30 percent of transacted properties were sold to first-home-buyers, higher than last year’s 27 percent.

“In the past, many buyers focused on premier locations and smaller-sized homes because such properties may be easily sold out and yield could be high. Now, as buyers tend to live in the property and perhaps raise children there as well, they are looking at the long-term side of things such as the neighborhood and outdoor activities available in the area,” said Zhang Lifan, an overseas property agent with Shanghai Tongdao Consultancy Services Ltd.

Chinese people became the biggest foreign buyers of US real estate in sales and dollar volume in 2014, surpassing the Canadians who are traditional major buyers, according to NAR data. The data also showed that Chinese buyers spent some $28.6 billion on US homes and made up 16 percent of transactions by foreigners in the 12 months through March 2015. In Manhattan alone, Chinese buyers had spent $4.7 billion year-to-date, accounting for 39 percent of international spending in the realty market of the area. In 2014, the number was just 12 percent.

According to Dominic Ong, senior director of Asian markets at Knight Frank Australia, prime apartment prices in Miami and Los Angeles are about 25 percent lower than Shanghai, which explains why such properties are drawing significant interest from high net worth individuals in China.

However, there is still only a small population of Chinese residents in Miami. Vanessa Grout, president of CMC Real Estate, the sales and marketing company of Miami-based CMC Group Inc, said that this is likely due to the absence of a consulate in the area and the lack of a direct flight between Miami and a gateway city in China. She added that although Chinese buyers account for only 2 percent of realty investors in Miami, she expects more to come in the near future.

“In Miami, we have beautiful beaches, easy access to outdoor activities, be it surfing or trekking, and we have a lot of schools for quality education. Considering all these factors, Miami’s appeal to Chinese buyers has been growing,” said Grout, whose firm recently introduced the Brickell Flatiron condo development to potential buyers during tours across China.

wuyiyao@chinadaily.com.cn