London prepared for Chinese real estate investors

Realtors in London and other major European cities are bracing for a surge in their already hot property markets due to signs that wealthy Chinese are seeking a haven from the nation's recent stock market turmoil.

Chinese individuals and corporations have been amassing property overseas for several years, particularly in the British capital.

Yet after last month's market crash, in which about 20 percent was knocked off the value of Chinese shares prior to government intervention, real estate industry insiders predict that Chinese investors will be looking to further diversify their portfolios by pumping money into European property.

Offices, hotels, apartments and mixed developments in London are the most attractive assets for Chinese buyers. Wang Mingjie / China Daily

"There is anecdotal evidence that Chinese buyers have intensified their interest in global property markets, including London, as a result of the recent stock market volatility," says Tom Bill, head of London residential research at Knight Frank LLP, a property consultancy founded in 1896.

Brian O'Connor, director of Adhoc Immobilien, a Berlin real state agency, echoes this, adding: "The whole (Chinese) market is precarious, so people would like to spread their risks and enter different markets."

The value of investment in overseas property by Chinese individuals and companies rose from $600 million in 2009 to about $15 billion in 2014, according to estimates by Knight Frank. The company says Chinese buyers accounted for 11 percent of all transactions above 1 million pounds ($1.55 million; 1.43 million euros) in London last year, up from 4 percent in 2012.

A separate report released in January by UK property consultants Savills states that 70 percent of real estate purchases in London last year involved foreign buyers, with transactions totaling 14.6 billion pounds. China ranked second only to the United States in terms of the nationality of buyers in the British capital, with American investors putting 3.4 billion pounds into the market compared with Chinese investors' 2.2 billion pounds.