Chinese take sunny view on Miami

Chinese consumers have doubled their South Florida residential property purchases over the last four years, growing from 1 percent of all international sales in 2011 to 2 percent in 2015, according to the 2015 Miami Profile of International Home Buyers released by the Miami Association of Realtors.

“That may not sound like much, but because Miami has so many international sales (22 percent of unit sales and 36 percent of dollar volume), 1 percent of our international sales are more than some market’s total international sales,” said Teresa King Kinney, CEO of the association.

“I still believe it’s just a fraction of what it will be,” she said.

Latin American, European and Russian buyers were Miami real estate agents’ international focus. Now they are setting their sights on China, the top buyer of US real estate.

The Miami Association of Realtors recently partnered with Juwai, one of China’s largest international property search portals, to promote Miami’s residential and commercial listings.

Kinney has made four trips to China. In June, she presented Miami real estate projects to buyers in Chengdu, Xi’an, Changzhou and Shanghai.

“They’re very, very positive about Miami, and every time we refer to ‘Miami’, it’s like ‘Oh, I want to go to Miami’ and smiling. I guess it’s the sunshine effect of Miami,” Kinney said.

Some local real estate companies have established partnerships with the largest Chinese brokerage firm, Homelink.

“They have committed time and resources to learning the Miami market. Recently, they brought 20 top producers to train with us,” said Philip Spiegelman, principal of