Chinese Pump $1 Billion Into NY Real Estate

As the song says, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. And that’s why Chinese investors are flocking to New York.

Investors from China have pumped $1 billion in real estate loans in the New York City in the past year, The New York Times reported Thursday.

“Everybody wants to come to New York because New York is the starting point for going global,” said Xue Ya, president of the China Center, a business and cultural organization.

Her company was the first tenant to sign a lease at 1 World Trade Center, the Times said.

Once a business is established in New York, Xue said, “you are a player.”

The flood of Chinese investments is similar in some ways to the 1980s, when the Japanese bought up a lot of New York real estate. But the Chinese boom isn’t so well publicized.

Dan Fasulo, managing director of Real Capital Analystics, which tracks commercial real estate sales, said Chinese investments are a lot bigger in scope than most realize.

“It’s truly amazing how much they’ve been able to do without being highlighted in public,” he told the Times.

The paper said the Chinese government is encouraging companies to invest overseas as a way to diversify China’s foreign-exchange holdings and to boost the country’s influence.