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PrintFebruary 24, 2009
The great American bargain housing bazaar
Markets have a way of self-correcting if governments get out of the way. The latest example is the housing market, where plunging prices are starting to attract bargain hunters -- including foreigners anxious to exchange their renminbi for dollars (helping our current accounts deficit). The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
Call it a bailout from the East. Approximately 40 Chinese real estate investors are winging their way from Beijing today looking to snap up foreclosed and otherwise "distressed" properties in the Bay Area and California. The trip, put together by Beijing real estate portal SouFun Holdings Ltd. and Fortune Group Realty Co. in Pittsburgh, is one of several such Chinese house hunting groups to visit the U.S. periodically. But the timing of this one appears to be particularly fortuitous, on both sides of the Pacific. "It's good for Chinese investors who see lots of opportunities," said Fortune Group vice-president Andrew Hang Chen. "It's also good for the American economy, at least on a small scale."Homes, apartment buildings and other commercial property in the region are on the shopping list.
Keep in mind: nobody is going to carry a house or apartment building back to China. The real estate stays in America. And we have more people in China who have an interest in a prosperous America, and a desire for peaceful relations.
