中 부동산 '큰 손'들, 美로 몰린다

 

25 9월, 20:49www.segye.com

25일 월스트리트저널(WSJ)에 따르면 중국 부동산개발업체와 투자회사 등 기관투자가들이 뉴욕, 로스앤젤레스, 샌프란시스코 등 전통적 선호지역은 물론 휴스턴, 보스턴, 시애틀 등에서 부동산을 대거 사들이고 있다.

 

 지난 2분기 말 기준으로 베이징 부동산 투자기업인 그랜드차이나펀드는 휴스턴에 있는 286채 규모의 주거용 임대주택 복합단지 지분 80%를 매입했다.

 

 이 회사는 지난해 현지 기업과 함께 애틀랜타의 170채 규모 주택단지 프로젝트에도 투자하는 등 지난해와 올해 1500만달러(약 162억원)를 쏟아부었다. 현재 두 주택단지 가치는 5000만달러(약 540억원)로, 투자원금 대비 평가이익이 2.5배에 이른다. 임대수익이 꾸준히 나오면서 투자 수익이 커진 것으로 분석됐다.

 

 중국 최대 부동산개발업체 차이나완커(万科)는 화교촌이 형성된 보스턴 지역 투자에 관심을 보이고 있다. 차이나완커는 올 초에는 샌프란시스코에서 655실 규모의 최고급형 콘도미니엄에 투자했다.

 

 홍콩 사모펀드인 가우캐피털파트너스는 올 4분기 5억달러 규모의 미국 상업용 부동산 전문펀드를 출범시켜 미국 부동산 시장 공략을 본격화할 계획이다. 아시아·북미 투자자들로부터 모은 자금은 오리건주 포틀랜드, 텍사스주 오스틴 등 ‘혁신센터’로 불리는 지역에 집중 투자할 예정이다.

 

 중국 큰손들의 이런 투자 경향은 지방정부 채무 급증과 경제성장률 둔화 등 불안한 중국 시장 환경과 무관치 않은 것으로 전문가들은 보고 있다.

 

 미국은 경기가 회복세를 보이는 데다 시장유동성이 풍부하고 투자 수익률도 안정적이다. 특히 휴스턴, 보스턴, 시애틀, 시카고 등은 에너지·기술분야 일자리 창출이 활발해 높은 수익률을 기대할 수 있는 유망 투자처로 꼽힌다.

 

 그랜드차이나펀드의 장민겅(張民耕) 회장은 “휴스턴과 애틀랜타의 부동산 가격이 고점 대비 20% 낮은 수준인 데다 성장 전망도 매우 밝다”면서 “마이애미, 올랜도, 댈러스에서도 좋은 물건이 있는지 알아보고 있다”고 말했다.

 

 자금이 밀려들면서 미국은 올해 중국의 해외부동산 투자를 가장 많이 유치한 나라가 됐다. 시장조사업체 딜로직에 따르면 올해 미국으로 흘러들어온 중국의 부동산 투자액은 14억달러(약 1조5000억원)다. 이어 홍콩(4억8900만달러), 영국(3억8700만달러), 마카오(3억2500만달러), 싱가포르(2억7100만달러) 순이었다.

 

 베이징=신동주 특파원 ranger@segye.com

 

 

 

Chinese Property Investors Widen Footprint in US

 

25 9월, 04:24online.wsj.com

SHANGHAI—The upswing in the U.S. property market is attracting Chinese developers and investment firms, and they are dipping their toes into new cities.

 

 While Chinese institutional investors are still drawn to their traditional favorites of New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, many are now also headed to cities such as Houston, Boston and Seattle as they seek geographic diversity as well as bigger lot sizes.

 

 These other cities—lesser known to some Chinese firms—now appear to offer fresh opportunities as energy or technology drives their economies and local Chinese communities expand.

 

 In the second quarter of this year, Beijing-based real-estate investment firm Grand China Fund took an 80% stake in a 286-unit residential rental complex in Houston. That followed a 2012 investment in a 170-unit residential project in Atlanta, with another local partner. The firm put a total of about $15 million into the two projects, which are valued at more than $50 million. For both projects, it said it was attracted by the prospect of higher yields amid the lower prices compared with property in California and New York.

 

 Gaw Capital Partners, a Hong Kong-based private-equity firm, is planning to raise $500 million for a real-estate fund that will invest in U.S. commercial property in the fourth quarter, targeting investors from Asia and North America. The fund manager said it will look at assets in "innovation centers" such as Portland, Ore., and Austin, Texas.

 

 China Vanke

 

 Co., the country's largest property developer by market capitalization, is interested in investing in Boston, partly because of its sizable Chinese community, said the firm's president,

 

 Yu Liang

 

 , at a news briefing in Hong Kong last month, without providing further details. Vanke had already jointly invested in a 655-unit high-end condominium in San Francisco with U.S. developer Tishman Speyer earlier this year.

 

 Chinese investors still are eyeing assets in New York and San Francisco, "but we are also witnessing increased interest in cities like Washington, D.C., Boston, Houston, Seattle and Chicago," said

 

 Alistair Meadows

 

 , who oversees cross-border Asian-Pacific real-estate transactions at consultancy

 

 Jones Lang LaSalle

 

 . "Cities like Seattle and Houston are enjoying strong job growth driven by the technology and energy sectors. As a consequence, core office investments in these cities offering higher yields are proving attractive."

 

 Slower domestic economic growth in China as well as rising risks in the country's financial sector are prompting investors to look abroad. The U.S. has become the most popular real-estate market to invest in so far this year for Chinese firms, followed by Hong Kong, the U.K., Macau and Singapore, according to data tracker Dealogic.

 

 Chinese property investors—from big players like sovereign-wealth funds and insurers to smaller ones such as local fund managers—are attracted to the U.S. market in general because of the economic recovery, ample market liquidity, and the stability of returns, real-estate consultants say. Rental properties in the U.S. typically have longer leases compared with China's, and hence are less prone to disruptions or volatility.

 

 Acknowledging that Houston and Atlanta aren't usually the first places Chinese investors think of when investing in the U.S.,

 

 Zhang Mingeng

 

 , board chairman at Beijing's Grand China Fund, cites costs as a key attraction. He said prices of some projects in these areas are still down around 20% from their peaks, and that growth prospects in these cities are positive.

 

 "Our investors, which include lawyers, exporters, merchants, accountants, have U.S. incomes and want us to branch into the U.S. for diversification," Mr. Zhang said. "They are looking for safe assets that they can see and touch." Grand China Fund manages yuan-denominated funds totaling four billion yuan ($653 million) investing in Chinese real estate, and a $60 million dollar-denominated fund investing in the U.S.

 

 Houston, in particular, has become more familiar to Chinese investors. China Petrochemical Corp., known as Sinopec, has operations there, and the city gained recognition with Chinese investors with the help of former Chinese basketball star Yao Ming, who played for the Houston Rockets.

 

 Mr. Zhang said he is looking for more real-estate projects in Miami, Orlando, Dallas and San Diego, in addition to New York and Chicago.

 

 "While the returns from the U.S. are not as high as what we get in our mainland China projects, they are good enough," he said, declining to reveal the investment yield of his U.S. projects. "We like residential projects near universities, hospitals and military bases."

 

 Asset managers said investors who aren't eager to place all their eggs in one basket are looking for diversity, not just in asset classes, but also in their geographic footprint.

 

 "The large Asian institutional investors, including Chinese investors, are looking for safety, more stability and exposure to diversified currencies and returns," said

 

 Goodwin Gaw

 

 , chairman of Gaw Capital Partners, which also provides outbound-investment advisory services to Asian institutional investors.

 

 To be sure, foreign investment in the U.S. still makes up a small portion of the market. Around 15% of the $25 billion invested in New York's real-estate market in 2012 was from foreign investors, for instance, compared with 75% of the $24 billion invested in London in 2012, according to data from Jones Lang LaSalle.

 

 Not all Chinese investors are branching out. The coastal cities in the U.S. still attract plenty of Chinese investors, with deals this year such as Greenland Holdings Group's $1 billion investment in a mixed-use project in downtown Los Angeles, and Soho China Ltd. Chief Executive

 

 Zhang Xin

 

 's personal investment in a stake in the General Motors Building in New York, which attracted considerable media attention in China.

 

 Beijing-based property developer and investor

 

 Feng Lun

 

 , chairman of Vantone Holdings Co., said he is sticking to investing in New York City. Vantone has leased 20,000 square meters of space in one World Trade Center, and has invested in joint ventures in two residential projects in the city.

 

 "We'll focus on New York City, preferably Manhattan, to ensure our current operations are successful before branching to other cities," Mr. Feng said.

 

 Write to Esther Fung at esther.fung@dowjones.com