Chinese government funds planning major US investments – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | May 28, 2013

Here is a list of the day’s latest China real estate news collected from around the web:

• Chinese government funds planning major US investments

  China is studying the possibility of investing a portion of its $3.4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves in US real estate, said two people with direct knowledge of the situation.
  The State Administration of Foreign Exchange began the study after seeing signs of a recovery in the US property market, said the people, who asked not to be identified as they weren’t authorised to speak publicly about the matter.
  China may acquire properties, invest in real estate funds or buy stakes in property companies, they said.

• Hip Shing Hong Group’s founders explain how to be a property billionaire

  The importance of family history is readily apparent in the board room on the 27th floor of the Hip Shing Hong Group in the heart of the central business in Hong Kong. A framed photo of Fong Shu Chen, who arrived in Hong Kong in 1927 from adjacent Guangdong Province with his eldest son Yun Wah to set up a sesame-processing operation, overlooks from above.  By 1948, Shu Chen and his three sons created a new enterprise, Hip Shing Hong, to enter the real estate business.  From scratch, the clan turned Hip Shing Hong one of the largest unlisted property investors in Hong Kong.

• Fan Wei Leaves Co-President Post At Fosun for Health Reasons

  Fosun International , one of China’s largest investment companies, said on Tuesday that co-founder and executive director Fan Wei had been “redesignated” from the position of executive director to non-executive director and would also leave his post as co-president due to health reasons.

  The move, effective last Wednesday, would “relieve his stress from work and facilitate his recovery,” Fosun said in an announcement. The change became effective last Wednesday.

  Fosun has emerged in recent years as an active partner for foreign companies looking to enter the China market. It has ties with Prudential and Carlyle in China.

• California’s outlet stores and malls fuel Chinese tourism boom

  Minutes after arriving by bus at an outlet mall in Cabazon, a dozen or so Chinese tourists hustled out to buy luggage that they planned to stuff with high-end clothes, shoes and bags.

  But not Guoshing Cui, a Samsung supervisor from Guangzhou. He made a beeline for the Coach store, where he picked out three expensive handbags. He paid more than $800 from a wad of $100 bills.

  The bags were gifts for family and friends in China, where Coach goods sell for two to three times the price in the U.S. “It’s a smart move,” he said of his purchases.

• Rich house-hunting Chinese send some wealth to Seattle

  Real estate agent Joseph Ho climbed the gilded staircase of a Hunts Point, Wash., mansion listed for almost $5 million, shooting video on his Apple iPad tablet and narrating in Chinese.

  Buyers from China have inquired about the 5,540-square-foot house. Ho made sure to capture a blue-sky fresco in the formal dining room — “It’ll remind them of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas” — and a yacht-ready dock.

This list is updated daily, so tune in again tomorrow for more up to date information.