Chinese buyers lured by bargain homes in Detroit

Low property prices in Detroit, United States, have lured global investors, many of them Chinese, to the city keen to join the buying spree, housing agents said.

An agent in Beijing said about 1,000 people called a hotline to join a visit to Detroit last weekend after realizing they can buy a house there far cheaper than in Beiijing, the Beijing Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

One female housing agent from the US bought 363 properties in recent years with prices ranging from just $500 to $12,000. In the latest case, she paid $2,300 for a 230-square-meter house in Detroit. The properties she bought were rented or re-sold.

Detroit, once known as the world’s auto capital, is on the verge of bankruptcy, and its population has fallen by more than 50 percent from its peak. One female Internet user from Shijiazhuang in Hebei province said she would like to buy one of the cheap houses, as she cannot afford the high prices in China.

But Tang Zhi, a photographer, said on his micro blog it is not wise to buy cheap property as an investment in Detroit because it's difficult to rent or resell it.

Another Internet user, from Shanghai, said if the buyers consider the high property tax, then they are not getting a good deal.