Chinese investors eye Miami’s booming real estate market

Global Business

Chinese investors are far behind the Latin American and European investors who dominate the South Florida real estate market, but brokers are getting ready for that to change.

The combination of Miami rising to seventh place on the list of the most important global cities to the world’s wealthy, a pricy and overbuilt Chinese domestic market, and a slowing national economy have driven Chinese buyers to look overseas.

As of December, there were 302 pre-construction projects in southern Florida, including 28,000 new — and quickly selling — units in Miami.

Chinese buyers accounted for 1.6 percent of properties sold in Miami-Dade County in the first six months of 2014, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. The city is in the process of making itself more appealing to the Chinese real estate buyer. A direct flight between Miami and mainland China appears to be in the works.

CCTV America’s Nitza Soledad Perez reported from Miami.
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