Chinese real estate firm to buy 2 NY sites for $390m

US property has become increasingly attractive to Chinese firms. Chinese outbound capital flows into global commercial real estate markets exceeded $10 billion in a year (2014) for the first time, according to commercial property concern CBRE Group Inc.

Cities in the UK, US and Australia have become the top three markets for Chinese mainland investors for commercial real estate investment. Initial purchase activity has largely focused on residential, premium office and hotel assets in gateway cities, CBRE said in a report last month.

Meanwhile, the Oceanwide investment comes amid more indications of weakness in China's economy as reports released over the weekend revealed disappointing trade and factory-price data in July.

The government announced that factory prices in July extended more than three years of declines, with the producer-price index taking its biggest year-over-year tumble in nearly six years. Customs data showed exports last month tumbled 8.3 percent from a year earlier, reversing a gain of 2.8 percent in June. Imports declined for the ninth month in a row, dropping 8.1 percent.

China's weaker than anticipated economic showing has prompted some concerns that the flow of Chinese investment into New York real estate may begin to ebb.

The Real Estate Board of New York's Broker Confidence Index rates sentiment on the city's real estate market for six months ahead. The July 30 survey found that while confidence is still considered high, around 10 percent of the roughly 400 brokers surveyed listed concerns about a slowdown in investment from mainland China, the effect of Greece's troubled economy and the impact of fluctuations in the stock market, according to the real estate report.

Moskowitz is not anticipating a Chinese pullback. "The Chinese investment community recognizes that NYC remains a tremendous value for real estate and an opportunity to learn best practices in terms of owning and managing real estate," he said.

"Some of the challenges from the Chinese economy (like the stock market) have been over blown," Knakal said. "They will still be looking to deploy capital from China, and in fact you can argue that the shakier things get in China, the more attractive New York City real estate looks."

paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com