Irvine-based Auction.com announced this week it’s partnering with “the Zillow of Chinese-language websites” to help investors in China and other parts of Asia join the bidding on U.S. properties.
Auction.com bills Juwai.com as the top Chinese international property portal, although two Orange County agents who do business with Chinese buyers warned there are numerous sites claiming to be the mainland’s top real estate outlet.
Juwai.com’s staff will develop content that educates Chinese consumers about the real estate auction process, the company said.
“We know there’s significant interest in U.S. properties among Chinese buyers,” said Rick Sharga, an Auction.com executive vice president. “Having a partner who knows the language is a wonderful thing for us. … This really is our way to market more directly to a group that’s been growing in terms of real estate activity.”
The National Association of Realtors’ most recent foreign buyer survey found Chinese buyers were the top overseas home shopper in California in 2014, with Irvine as a top destination for investors.
Though several national news agencies reported a strong dollar had dampened demand for U.S. real estate among foreign buyers, Orange County agents say they’ve seen little decrease in the desire among investors to get their assets out of China.
The main impediment has been tougher enforcement by the Chinese government to restrict how much cash its citizens can spend overseas, agents said.
U.S. properties appear to be cheap to Chinese buyers, Sharga said.
“When you think of properties in San Francisco and Orange County, it wouldn’t strike us as a bargain,” he said. “But when you compare it to Singapore or Hong Kong, we’re like Wal-Mart.”
Sharga said Auction.com will start small, focusing first on making commercial real estate available through Juwai.com. Eventually, the company plans to expand its offering of homes through the website.
Still uncertain is how much Chinese will appear on Auction.com’s site during online bidding and how the company will work with Chinese buyers who contact the company directly.
“Some of the details … are still being worked out,” Sharga said.
The deal had been in the works since January, with help from the U.S.-based Asian Real Estate Association of America, he said.
An Auction.com statement describes Juwai.com as having 2.6 million monthly visitors from 315 Chinese cities and 48 countries. The site, with home offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong, includes real estate listings from 89 countries.
At any given time, Auction.com has 15,000 to 20,000 properties listed on its site, Sharga said. Last year, 50,000 homes were sold through Auction.com, with the sales pace on track to beat that this year. In addition, about 1,000 commercial properties were sold through Auction.com.
Most the homes and about half the commercial properties are “distressed” sales that have gone through default or are bank-owned. Auction.com is hoping to increase its share of non-distressed sales in the future.
Orange County agents Alisha Chen of Irvine and Christina Shaw of Newport Beach are skeptical of claims that Juwai.com is China’s top international real estate portal, saying it’s impossible to know for sure.
Chen doubted also that many Chinese buyers would feel comfortable shopping for U.S. properties online.
“If you have no idea of the American market, would you have the ability to do that online?” asked Chen, broker for Cornerstone Real Estate International, which helps Chinese buyers invest in homes and commercial real estate here.
“I don’t think Auction.com is going to take over the brokers’ and agents’ (business),” added Shaw, “but I think they’ll take a certain percentage.”
Register staff writer Ian Wheeler contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7734 or jcollins@ocregister.com
