Berkshire Targets Wealthy Chinese Buyers for U.S. Homes

Source: Bloomberg

by Katherine Chiglinsky
April 17, 2017, 8:13 AM PDT

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s real estate brokerage, acquired as an afterthought when billionaire Chairman Warren Buffett bought an energy business, is expanding its global reach with a push to attract wealthy Chinese citizens to purchase homes in the U.S.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices announced an agreement to advertise its U.S. homes on Juwai.com, which attracts about 2 million visitors a month. The portal hosts sites on both sides of China’s “great firewall,” meaning consumers can access the information inside the nation from more than 400 cities and also from more than 160 other countries, according to a statement Monday.

HomeServices has been expanding under Buffett by opening new locations, forming a 2012 venture to expand licensing operations and then working to capitalize on demand from non-U.S. buyers. The unit hired Realogy Holdings Corp.’s Peter Turtzo in 2015 to push into international markets and recruited Mitchell Lewis from Christie’s International Real Estate in September to build operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“The Chinese have overtaken all nationalities besides Americans as the leading buyers of property in the U.S.,” Gino Blefari, chief executive officer of Irvine, California-based Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, said in the statement. The Juwai.com accord and other efforts overseas “make it much easier for Chinese real estate buyers to find and shop our property listings.”



Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-17/berkshire-broker-seeks-wealthy-chinese-buyers-for-u-s-houses