Press Release: Juwai IQI Launches Juwai.asia, the First Global Real Estate Portal for Asian Buyers
Juwai IQI today announced the launch of Juwai.asia, the first global portal for non-China Asian consumers who want to purchase real estate almost anywhere in the world. Chinese buyers are already served by the company’s existing portal,Juwai.com, which since 2011 has become the largest Chinese portal for international real estate. Via the two portals, Juwai.asia and Juwai.com, Juwai IQI markets some 6 million listings per year from 91 countries to more than 3.3 million monthly users.
ASIAN BUYERS ARE MOST ACTIVE GLOBALLY
After the Chinese, other Asians are the most active cross-border real estate buyers in the world. Cross-border buyers —mostly from Asia— purchased 500,000 homes in the G7 countries alone in 2019, worth an aggregate value of US$250 billion.i While the largest number of cross-border property buyers do originate in mainland China, significant numbers also come from the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Taiwan, and from Singapore, India, Japan, Korea, and Malaysia.
Asia is the scene of wealth creation at a pace not seen anywhere else. Asia now has nearly the same number of ultra-high net worth individuals as Europe, but its population of the wealthy is growing at almost twice the rate as is Europe’s: 44% versus 23%, respectively. In a survey conducted before the pandemic, the top five countries where wealthy Asians intend to purchase residential property are the US, UK, Singapore, Australia, and Canada.ii
Non-China Asian buyers account for 20 per cent of the real estate buying enquiries that Juwai.com receives, compared to China’s 71 per cent, the Americas’ 4 per cent, Europe’s 3 per cent, and the Middle East and Africa’s approximately 1 per cent.
In the US, Asians including mainland and Hong Kong Chinese invested US$257.3 billion in residential real estate over the past decade.iii That far exceeds the next largest buyer group, Canadians, who acquired only about half that amount, $129 billion, of US real estate during the same period.
In the UK, foreigners are the predominant buyers of London’s prime property market, accounting for 55 per cent of prime sales and spending £8.2 billion in Greater London during the second half of 2019.iv
In Australia, Asian investors, including mainland and Hong Kong Chinese, were officially cleared to acquire US$135 billion of real estate over the past decade.v Apart from mainland and Hong Kong Chinese, the biggest Asian investors were from Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea.
Singapore is a popular destination market for other Asian buyers, especially wealthy professionals and business owners due to its political stability and stable markets. Investment by less well-heeled buyers is discouraged by Singapore’s high 20% foreign buyer stamp duty. Foreigners acquired 315 apartments in Singapore’s prime core central region in the first nine months of 2019.vi
In New Zealand, Asian investors, including mainland and Hong Kong Chinese, in 2018 alone acquired homes worth US$1.1 billion. That’s nearly double the US$620 million invested by Australians and nearly 10 times the $140 million acquired by UK buyers. Among the biggest sources of buyers are Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea.
In the UAE, Asian buyers from India, China, and Pakistan are the most numerous foreign property investors, apart from those from other Persian Gulf countries. Asians invest US$6.23 billion per year into Dubai alone, according to the most recent official data from the Dubai Land Department.vii
In Malaysia, eight of the top 10 foreign real estate investor groups hail from other parts of Asia. Official data on participation in the Malaysia My 2nd Home visa program reveals that citizens from mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, China; Japan; Bangladesh; Korea; and Singapore acquire more visas and likely also more Malaysian real estate than do those from any other part of the world.viii
The new Juwai.asia portal was launched in English and simplified Chinese, with further languages to come.
GEORG CHMIEL QUOTES
Juwai IQI Executive Chairman Georg Chmiel said:
“Juwai.com has been helping Chinese become residents of the world since 2011, and Juwai.asia will expand our mission into assisting not just Chinese but all Asians.
“Juwai.asia is the first truly global real estate portal for Asian buyers, with listings from 91 countries. Juwai.asia allows us to cover not only the No. 1 buyers’ market of China but also the other top cross-border buyers’ markets, which are nearly all in Asia.
“You can live in Kuala Lumpur and want a home in Perth, live in Singapore and want a home in Malaysia, or live in Delhi and want a home in Palo Alto. Wherever in Asia and wherever in the world do you want to purchase, now we can help you. Juwai.asia enables you to find your future home. It will connect you with local market agents and sources of financing. And, it will provide you with expert advice and market data.
“The Coronavirus pandemic has dealt a painful blow to economies all over the world. One bright spot for real estate markets is that the pandemic has also given added motivation to cross-border buyers from Asia.”
DANIEL HO QUOTES
Juwai IQI Group Executive Director Daniel Ho said:
“Even before the launch of Juwai.asia, Juwai.com already served more than 3.3 million users per month, more Asian cross-border property buyers than any other portal or real estate company. Juwai IQI also advertises the largest number of global property listings targeted at Asian buyers, with 6 million listings per year from 91 countries and having a combined value of US$4 trillion. The more than 8,000 salespeople in our IQI network sold US$1 billion of property in 2019 and make up the largest network of real estate agents in Asia.
“Real estate agents and developers can now use Juwai IQI’s end-to-end property advertising and sales solution to reach China’s 1.4 billion people and the rest of Asia’s 2.7 billion consumers. Marketing on Juwai.asia and Juwai.com creates buyer interest, while our in-house sales agents, events and services help you close the transaction.
“This new portal for the first time enables developers and agents to tap into the total Asian market. Juwai-IQI is a one-stop solution combining online and offline marketing and sales, now to buyers located everywhere in Asia.
“This is the first major strategic initiative taken by Juwai IQI since the merger between Juwai.com and IQI, which was announced in July 2019 and completed later that year. The merger of our two Asian superbrands made us the largest global marketplace for real estate buyers from Asia, both by number of users and customers.”
KASHIF ANSARI QUOTES
IQI Global Group CEO Kashif Ansari said:
“Juwai.asia is a marketplace, not just a portal. This is the era of global asset allocation, and most high-net-worth individuals acquire international property for lifestyle, asset diversification and investment goals.
“The new Juwai.asia builds on the nearly 10 years of experience we have in Juwai.com providing buyers with high-quality listings in popular homebuying areas, exclusive professional reports, market data, and expert commentaries and advice.
“More than 8,000 real estate agents are members of the Juwai IQI team, so you could say that Juwai.asia was created by agents and for agents. We worked hard to maximize the ways in which agents benefit by using Juwai.asia, including by winning more listings, generating more buyer enquiry, or getting assistance in closing transactions with foreign buyers.
“Two Australians founded Juwai in 2011 when they realized that agents needed a better way to reach foreign buyers. At that time, the cross-border property buying boom was just getting underway, but agents had no way to market their listings directly to buyers from overseas.”
“Real Estate is the new global currency, and more investors seek to diversify their investments. In 2019, Indian buyers spent US$6.9 billion on American residential real estate, making buyers from India the third-largest foreign buyer group in the USA, followed by Mexico, the UK, and the Europeans.
“We looked at the portals available in the market and created Juwai.asia to fill the gaps by addressing the unmet needs of buyers and sellers. Juwai.asia is the complete solution and the answer to the new world of global investment which we have all entered. We used everything we have learned as the largest proptech company in Asia to simplify the process by which Asians become global residents.
“We poured into Juwai.asia all the lessons we learned over the past 10 years of marketing property online via Juwai and selling it offline with our team at IQI. We understand the needs of consumers, which makes Juwai.asia more relevant for developers, corporates, individual investors and property agent. We use our AI and responsive technology to promote listings to the best qualified likely buyers.”
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