根据全美房地产经纪人协会报告，从房屋单元数、美元金额和交易价格方面看，中国人是迄今为止美国最大的房地产海外买家。该协会长期追踪美国各地的房产购买情况。

截至今年3月底的过去12个月中，中国人在美国的买房支出高达286亿美元，主要用于购买住宅，同比增长30%，超过第二大海外买家加拿大人在美国买房支出的2.5倍。

随着中国经济和房地产市场大幅放缓及反腐工作如火如荼的开展，过去几年中国买家正竞相在海外置购买房产。作为一个群体，中国购房团已经成为很多西方主要城市最大的房地产投资者，其中包括纽约、伦敦、悉尼、温哥华、多伦多和奥克兰。这些城市属于英语民主国家，有着良好的教育系统、高质量的生活、强有力的法制和产权制度，在那里买房被中国人视为财富保值的极佳方式。

截至今年3月底的一年里，中国赴美购房者的平均支出是美国购房者的3倍多，平均每套房支付83.18万美元。相比之下，全美平均房产交易价仅为25.56万美元。国际买家的平均购房价格为49.96万美元；而排在中国人之后的最大买家——加拿大人、印度人、墨西哥人和英国人，平均花费均低于该水平。

来自中国(包括中国台湾地区和中国香港地区)的海外买家占美国房产总销售额的28%，交易数量的16%。相比之下，加拿大买家仅占交易数量的14%。

中国人在美国最爱的投资目的地是加利福尼亚州，占购房数量的35%，其次为华盛顿州、纽约、马萨诸塞州、伊利诺伊州和德克萨斯州。

据报道，约70%的中国购房者采用全部现金的支付方式。相比之下，这一比例在所有外国买家中为55%，在美国国内买家中为25%。

早在2011年，中国买家花费了共70亿美元在美国购买房地产，当时大部分购房者来自中国香港和中国台湾。从2013年至今年3月的这段时间，赴美国买房的中国大陆人数量激增。而2013年早期正是国家主席习近平推出的反腐工作的开始。

5月，中国70个大中城市新建住宅均价同比下跌6.1%，相比4月6.3％的跌幅略有好转，但与过去15年两位数的增长相比还相去甚远。

由于中国严格管理资金流出，规定个人每年可结汇总额不得超出5万美元，看来大部分涌入全球房地产市场的资金从技术上讲是不合法的。

Chinese take lead among foreign buyers of US homes

Chinese are now by far the biggest foreign buyers of US real estate in terms of units, dollar volume and price paid, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors, which tracks property purchases across the country.

In the 12 months to the end of March, Chinese buyers spent $28.6bn on mostly residential property in the US, a 30 per cent increase from the previous year and more than two and a half times the amount spent by Canadians, the next biggest group of foreign buyers. With the Chinese economy and real estate market slowing dramatically and a vociferous anti-corruption campaign in full swing at home, Chinese buyers have been scrambling in the past few years to buy real estate abroad.

As a group they have become the biggest buyers of housing in many major western cities, including New York, London, Sydney, Vancouver, Toronto and Auckland.

Houses in English-speaking democracies with good education systems, excellent quality of life, strong rule of law and strong property rights are regarded by Chinese buyers as excellent stores of wealth.

In the year to the end of March, Chinese buyers spent more than three times the average American buyer, paying an average of $831,800 per property, compared with the national average transaction price of $255,600.

For all international buyers, the average purchase price was $499,600, although the next biggest buyers — from Canada, India, Mexico and the UK — all spent less than that on average.

Buyers from China (including Taiwan and Hong Kong) accounted for 28 per cent of total sales of US real estate to foreign buyers and 16 per cent of the number of transactions, compared with Canada’s 14 per cent of transactions.

The favourite Chinese investment destination in the US by far was California, accounting for 35 per cent of all purchases, followed by Washington state, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois and Texas.

About 70 per cent of Chinese purchases were reported as all-cash, compared with 55 per cent for all foreign purchases and 25 per cent for purchases made by domestic US buyers.

As recently as 2011, Chinese buyers spent a total of just $7bn on real estate in the US and much of that came from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The surge in recent buying appears to be mainly from mainland China and came mostly in the two years to the end of March 2015, the period coinciding with the anti-corruption campaign launched by President Xi Jinping in early 2013.

The average price of newly built residential housing in China’s 70 largest cities fell 6.1 per cent from a year earlier in May, a slightly better performance than April’s 6.3 per cent drop but still a far cry from the double-digit increases China saw for most of the past decade and a half.

Since China has strict capital controls that limit individuals to transferring just $50,000 a year out of the country, it appears that most of the money flooding into global property markets is technically illegal.