American real estate agency Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty (RSIR), the Pacific Northwest’s largest affiliate for the fast-growing global real estate network, has opened a new “Asia Desk” to target the growing number of buyers from Southeast Asia, China and Korea.
The desk will feature a network of bilingual real estate brokers fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese and Korean with experience working with overseas home buyers.
“Having witnessed the impact of Asian homebuyers in my hometown of Vancouver in British Columbia, I understand the exponential growth prospects of this foreign buyer segment,” said
Dean Jones (pictured right), President & Chief Executive Officer of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty, said: “International is our middle name and so we’re playing a pivotal role in building out networks between the Pacific Northwest region and Asia. This is just the beginning.”
The Asia Desk operations are directly networked with Beijing Sotheby’s International Realty, which Jones referred to the franchise system and helped to establish over the past three years.
According to international home buyer research provided by the National Association of Realtors, Canadians still buy more homes in the U.S. but the Chinese spend more in aggregate.
International sales in the U.S. are expected to represent US$92.2 billion in 2014, and Washington State is among the fastest growing markets for foreign buyers.
Census data reveals Asians are the fastest growing demographic in Washington. In many Eastside communities, including the City of Bellevue, Asians now comprise 30 percent of the population spurring a rise in Mandarin-speaking businesses specialising in international relocation services.
Recently the New York Times estimated that 40 percent of the Eastside homes valued above $1 million were sold to Chinese home buyers.
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg
