Asians make up about 75 percent of the buyers at FivePoint Communities? Pavilion Park project at the Orange County Great Park, said company spokeswoman Carol Wold.
[...]
Driving this demand is a booming Chinese economy that?s boosting the ranks of the rich.
China added 900,000 millionaires in 2013 alone, increasing its total to 2.4 million households, the Boston Consulting Group reported in June. (It doesn?t include real estate wealth in determining who is a ?millionaire.?) The consulting group credited the 9.6 percent growth rate of China?s GDP and the nation?s savings rate of 16.8 percent.
But the Chinese don?t believe that their government protects private property rights as well as the U.S. government. For example, China doesn?t have anything equivalent to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. protecting bank deposits, local agents noted.
?The real driving force is preservation of wealth,? said luxury home specialist Lee Ann Canaday of Laguna Beach, who has been attending real estate expos in China for the past three years. ?They still see the United States as a safe haven.?
China also limits the number of homes people can own, Chen said.
Chinese buyers seek out places like Irvine, which has a reputation for top schools and low crime. They tend to prefer newer areas, and since these buyers often rank among China?s elite, there?s a strong appetite for luxury homes.
?We?re getting a ton of showings in Newport Coast and Crystal Cove,? Canaday said.
[...]
He spent about three months researching real estate online. The Chinese websites he visited mentioned Irvine over and over again, citing high test scores, low crime and high quality of life.
?You would be surprised how famous Irvine is in China,? said Shaw, an international specialist for Re/Max Fine Homes in Newport Beach.
Lu?s family came to Orange County for a one-week shopping junket in February, and picked the two-story, 2,900-square-foot home before it was built.
As with about 60 percent of overseas buyers, Lu?s father paid cash. Compared to China, houses in Irvine aren?t expensive, Lu?s parents said.
[...]
Unlike the Lu family?s home in Beijing?s Shang Yuen district, the home is Irvine is a detached house with its own land.
For what the Lu-Meng family paid for their Irvine house, they?d get a home half as big in Beijing ? most likely in a high-rise building without any land.
Their current home in north Beijing -- purchased 12 years ago -- is a three-level townhome, with a rooftop garden. It has about the same amount of space as their Irvine house, but is worth twice as much.
[...]
Meng also loves the air quality ? pristine compared to Beijing?s notoriously polluted air. And compared to overpopulated Beijing, ?it?s much quieter here.?
[...]
Lin, 48, paid just over $1 million for a three-bedroom, three-bath two-story house in the Cypress Village development just west of the Orange County Great Park.
The home is an investment. And it?s a place for Lin and his wife, Lilian Liu, 50, to stay during regular vacations and while visiting their son.
?It?s very impressive for me. I think this is nice,? the business owner said via Skype from his primary home in downtown Beijing. ?You have many more options. It?s a chance to have a place for vacations.?
Compared to overcrowded Beijing, Orange County -- the sixth most populous county in the U.S. -- is relaxing, Lin said.
?Orange County is a little bit rustic and very quiet,? Lin said. ?It?s not cold in the winter. ... It?s very close to Disneyland and very close to the ocean, so it?s good for us.?
In October, he came to Orange County to look for a house, and decided on his new residence in three or four days after rejecting older homes in Newport Beach.
[...]
But a similar home in central Beijing, where he lives, likely would cost around $5 million, Lin estimated. Downtown Beijing is like Manhattan, he said.
?You can?t compare a condo in Manhattan to buying a house in Irvine.?
