Xi Jinping Heads to Florida as Chinese Investment Booms

The request of Chinese President Xi Jinping to travel to Florida to meet with President Donald Trump is more than just a sign the Asian leader wants to meet the new president in a place away from all the Washington noise.

It’s a sign Florida is on China’s map for major investments.

Florida is home to seven of the top 20 real estate investment hot spots in the United States.

Chinese investment in the United States more than doubled its total from 2015 to 2016, reaching about $50 billion, according to Cecilia Joy Perez of the American Enterprise Institute.

Trump won’t want to stop that investment, although he wants fairer trade with China. China will likely point to its investment dollars heading to America as proof the economic relationship is healthy.

Increasingly, many of those investment dollars, or yuan, have gone to Florida, where sun is strong, property is cheap, and growth prospects are good. Chinese investors had taken notice of the Sunshine State long before President Xi decided to visit the winter White House at Mar-A-Lago, Trump’s estate in tony Palm Beach.

“There are many individual and corporate investors buying in Florida, but Chinese developers are also exploring the state looking for good opportunities to build,” said Charles Pittar, CEO of Juwai.com, a Chinese real estate services firm, speaking to Forbes. “Florida is an attractive market.”

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Florida had already been noticed by the Canadians and the out-of-staters. A few years ago, it passed New York in terms of population. It is now the third-largest state, after California and Texas.

Driving much relocation isn’t just the weather, the low taxes, or retirees. It’s the affordability of the land, especially compared to New York, California, and international metro areas such as London.

Juwai notes that Florida is home to seven of the top 20 real estate investment hot spots in the United States – ranked in terms of jobs, population growth, and home-price growth prospects. The most popular Florida destinations in 2016 for Chinese investors were Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami, according to Forbes.

It’s easy to see why. Juwai editors note that at $8,181 per square meter, Florida prices are a fraction of the price — about one-third, that is — of properties in other global investment hot spots, such as Hong Kong, London, and New York.

On the commercial front, China City Construction has invested $110 million into Miami’s North Beach and West Brickell as part of their plans to build condominiums and retail facilities. Hong Kong’s Swire Properties has invested $1.06 billion in property development project in Brickell, a fast-growing area of Miami that is also the city’s major financial hub, according to Juwai.

Florida is such a growing hot spot for Chinese investment that Florida officials are trying to get airlines to provide nonstop flights to China.

Another reason for the desire for nonstop flights is there is plenty of room to grow for tourism. Florida exceeded 106 million visitors in 2015, but only 275,000 of them came from China.

But direct flights would also help introduce Florida better to the Chinese.

According to a 2015 report by CNBC, California has led the nation in Chinese investment since 2000, with about $5.9 billion. California, a Pacific state, is likely very well known to the Chinese, whereas some Chinese probably struggle to find Florida on the map.

It’s unclear if Trump encouraged Xi’s visit to Mar-A-Lago instead of the White House. Regardless, the Trump-Xi summit in Palm Beach is a coup for Florida economic development officials seeking to grow Florida by catching the attention and dollars of Asian investors.