PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A condominium building under construction in Portland is planning to market more than a quarter of its units to Asian buyers.
The real-estate brokers tasked with selling units in the TwentyTwenty building in northeast Portland expect to offer up to 45 of the 162 units to buyers from countries that include China, Japan and Singapore, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported Monday.
Asian buyers have become a significant force in larger West Coast cities, with Chinese buyers accounting for $30.4 billion in U.S. real estate over the last year, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Buyers in Asia have mostly bypassed Portland, but the city's home prices could become increasingly attractive.
About half of targeted buyers in Asia for the condos would likely be investors, said broker Michael Zhang of Cascade Sotheby's International Realty. Most of these buyers would likely hire a property manager and rent out the units, but some might hold on to the condos as additional homes, he said.
The Portland building is expected to be completed next year. Its one-bedroom units will start at $300,000, and its two-bedroom units at $500,000 — prices Zhang said might interest buyers in China.
The China government has recently restricted the flow of Chinese cash out of the country, making it difficult for investors to wire enough money to purchase multimillion-dollar properties.
"To get $3 million, it takes forever," Zhang said. "To get half a million, it's reasonable."
But most buyers in China haven't heard of Portland or even the state.
"They say, 'What? Ohio?'" Zhang said. "I have to sell them the lifestyle. I have to sell them on Portland, Oregon."
Brokers in Vancouver, British Columbia, have long targeted Asian buyers, leading to a flood of international homebuyers and raising concerns about increased housing prices.
Seattle then experienced a boom in overseas investment interest after Vancouver implemented taxes targeting foreign buyers.
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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com
