27 April 2020 / Financial Times
We have noticed an evolution in the number of requests from Chinese buyers. From the period of the last quarter of 2019, compared to numbers from January to April 2020, requests have increased.
In the past month, daily life in Nanjing, eastern China, has been tentatively returning to normal, following several weeks of lockdown to help combat the spread of coronavirus. Boris Mei, a 39-year-old who works in the export industry there, is among a rising number of Chinese looking to buy property overseas. “I’m looking at either LA or Melbourne, as we have relatives in both cities,” he says. “We would like our daughter, 14, to study at university in either of these places, to experience the overseas lifestyle — and possibly for us to migrate as a family in the future.” Mei is planning to buy an “entry-level property” initially, for about Rmb3m ($425,000).
Many others are looking too. In the six weeks from late January when parts of the country were put under lockdown, Sodichan, a property portal for Chinese buyers looking for properties around the world, recorded a 300 per cent increase in inquiries compared with the previous six-week period.