The Hurun Research Institute released the 'overseas property investment trends report' (Chinese mainland) on April 27. It showed that 80 percent of wealthy interviewees have the intention to invest overseas in the future, and real estate has become their favorite choice, accounting for more than 40 percent. About 70 percent buy personal residential properties overseas, while one third buy merely for investment purposes, with an average investment of 6 million yuan.

More than 50 percent of interviewees have overseas investment experience

Statistics show that on the Chinese mainland, the high net worth population with personal assets valued more than 10 million yuan number over one million, 67,000 have more than 100 million yuan, and 17,000 have more than 500 million yuan.

About 80 percent of the interviewed have expressed their desire to invest overseas in the future, and more than 50 percent of them have overseas investment experience. Property, fixed income and equity are their top three investment choices.

The survey shows that asset allocation or risk diversification is the main reason for overseas investment, accounting for 19.8 percent. Children's education is the second reason, at about 19.4 percent.

North America is the first choice for property buyers

Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Chairman and Chief of Research says that there has been an obvious trend to overseas investment this year, mainly because of the strong RMB, the relatively high housing price in Chinese mainland's first-tier cities, and the limited space in domestic real estate market.

The U.S. is the first choice for buyers, accounting for 60 percent; followed by Canada, Europe and Australia, which represent 22 percent, 7 percent and 4 percent respectively. Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver are the top three cities favored by wealthy Chinese.

The popularity of the trend in overseas property investment has brought business opportunities for China's property developers. The Greenland Group has already entered the U.S., Australia, Canada and U.K.

Vanke's overseas investment has covered cities including Hong Kong, San Francisco, New York and Singapore. In addition, Chinese entrepreneurs Wang Jianlin, Xu Rongmao, Guo Guangchang, Chen Lihua, Yan Bin, Pan Shiyi and Zhang Yin are all showing interest in overseas investment.

This article was edited and translated from 《4成中国富豪海外投资选地产 平均投600万》, source: The Beijing News, author: Liang Weiwei.