Chinese second-largest buyers of US real estate

Individual Chinese investors and buyers for all kinds of reasons, including education, emigration and investment, are contributing to a very positive environment for the real estate market in the US, said Chris Marlin, president of Lennar International.

The Chinese were the second-largest overseas buyers of US properties in 2013, just behind the Canadians, according to US-based National Association of Realtors.

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Lennar, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange and is one of the biggest homebuilders in the US, sold 18,000 units in 2013, with an average price of $307,000.

The real estate industry in the United States was badly hit by the subprime crisis a couple of years ago. "Sales dropped dramatically in 2008", said Marlin.

"Although it rebounded very strongly, the price hasn't recovered to the pre-crisis level, which means it's a great time to invest in the United States", Marlin added.

"With rising demand, the market is strong and healthy", Marlin said.

The US topped the lists of countries providing the most stable and secure real estate investment in 2013, according to Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate, a not-for-profit association of international real estate investors with headquarters in Washington,.

The investment climate in US is very positive and favorable and right now it offers excellent returns in the real estate industry relative to global returns for investors, according to Marlin.

Twenty-three percent of overseas investment went to Florida which is ranked first among all states in international housing sales last year, followed by California, Texas and Arizona.

The sentiment was echoed by Mike Qiao, one of the partners of NeuLion Group LLC, Lennar's best performing broker last year. "The price is much lower than the historic levels."

It's wiser to choose a US-based advisor who is familiar with the local real estate market and a local professional property management company is more reliable, Qiao stressed.

Chinese investors in 2014 are likely to spend at least twice as much on overseas property assets as last year, according to a report from Colliers International.

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