Real Estate Investment Opening Up to Chinese Investors

The WSJ reports that Chinese regulators have authored a law that would give Chinese insurers greater freedom to invest in commercial real estate. This change in investment rules is included in a revision to the insurance law making its way through Chine's legislature and could go into effect as early as the end of this year. Although real estate investment by insurance companies is not new to the US market, the WSJ reports that Chinese insurers are relatively restricted on what assets they may invest in and have been lobbying for years for greater flexibility.

This change in investment laws could produce an influx of capital into the U.S. commercial real property market at a time when new sources of capital are badly needed. However, the WSJ suggests that the availability of this capital, and the extent to which Chinese insurers invest is the U.S. commercial real property market, will depend on the administrative rules that result from this legislation. For that reason, we should not expect an immediate influx in capital.

http://www.wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121977142246573319.html

(This entry posted by Chris Iavarone, a member of the Real Estate Development group)

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