【英语国际】美国房地产市场 中国资本暗流涌动

Chinese investment in U.S. real estate is becoming more than meets the eye because of investors like David Liu.

Mr. Liu, who was born in China and is a U.S. citizen, has emerged out of nowhere to become one of the largest buyers of rental apartment buildings in the U.S. this year, paying roughly $480 million for about 8,000 units. In his most recent deal, his company, Standard Portfolios, paid about $133 million in cash and assumed debt for seven Phoenix-area apartment complexes previously owned by Bethany Group of Irvine, Calif.

Mr. Liu's money comes from profits from his ventures in China, where he has condominiums and other commercial real-estate projects in such cities as Beijing, according to Mark Osgood, Mr. Liu's U.S. adviser.

However, Mr. Liu's deals aren't counted when market-data companies like Real Capital Analytics record foreign investment because Standard Portfolios is based in California.

Counting only those investors based in China, there has been just $62.6 million of Chinese investment in the U.S. commercial-real-estate list this year, putting China 12th in a ranking of countries. By comparison, Canada was the top source of foreign investment in U.S. real estate this year, with about $1.8 billion invested through August, according to Real Capital.

But other forms of Chinese investment clearly are on the rise as that country's economic engine generates billions of dollars of surplus cash looking for opportunities. For example, China's sovereign-wealth fund, China Investment Corp., has been exploring buying stakes in U.S.-focused real-estate funds. These investments also wouldn't be counted by Real Capital because CIC wouldn't be buying property directly.

'There's a lot of foreign money coming in through intermediaries, so it's not showing up in these numbers,' says Ben Carlos Thypin, a senior market analyst with Real Capital.

Mr. Liu declined to be interviewed for this article. But others who have worked with him say his two largest deals demonstrate that he has both the patience needed to wade through the details of distressed assets and the capital needed to convince sellers that he is serious.

Mr. Liu founded Standard late last year and soon began amassing U.S. apartments, according to Mr. Osgood. Mr. Liu's U.S. real-estate investments had been limited to some raw land. In his 50s, Mr. Liu has had a home in the U.S. for the past decade or so, Mr. Osgood says. He divides his time between Beijing and the home that he shares with his wife outside Los Angeles.

Mr. Liu expects recent high foreclosure rates to push more tenants into the rental market and help stabilize property in even the most battered regions like Phoenix. Mr. Liu is looking to continue to make other similar acquisitions, particularly in the Western U.S., Mr. Osgood says. 'He wants scale,' Mr. Osgood says.

In the case of the Phoenix portfolio, Mr. Liu gained scale with relatively little cash down. Mr. Liu paid about $13 million and assumed roughly $120 million in debt that had been restructured as part of the sale, according to Mark Forrester, a partner with Hendricks & Partners, a multifamily real-estate investment-banking company hired to assist with the sale. Mr. Liu also put up nonrefundable deposits of $1.75 million, which helped make him the winning bidder, according to Bill Hoffman of Trigild Inc., the receiver that handled the sale. By some measures, Mr. Liu got a pretty good bargain. Standard Portfolios paid about $48,000 a unit, well below the $78,000 that the 2,759 units last sold for in 2007, according to Trigild.

The purchase followed Standard Portfolios' $296 million acquisition earlier this year of about 16 apartment complexes in Texas and Maryland, also owned previously by an affiliate of Bethany Group, according to Real Capital. Additionally, Standard Portfolios also has paid an undisclosed price for a Florida apartment complex.

Some analysts are waiting to see when more Chinese banks and institutions will follow investors like Mr. Liu. 'They're sitting on a lot of capital,' says Jacques Gordon, a global strategist for LaSalle Investment Management in Chicago.

由于有刘先生(David Liu)这样的投资者的存在，中国对美国房地产的投资并不像乍看上去那样简单。

Credit: Hendricks & Partners刘先生想在美国西部购买更多的公寓。图为其在菲尼克斯的一处房产。刘先生出生在中国，现在是美国公民，他今年用4.8亿美元左右买了约8,000套公寓，从一个无名之辈一举成为美国租住公寓楼的最大买家之一。他最近做出的一笔交易是，其公司Standard Portfolios支付了约1.33亿美元现金买下凤凰城地区以前属于加州Bethany Group of Irvine公司资产的七座公寓楼，并为后者承担债务。

据刘先生的美国顾问奥斯古德(Mark Osgood)说，刘先生的资金来自其中国项目，他在北京等城市拥有数套公寓及多个商业地产项目。

然而像Real Capital Analytics等市场数据分析公司在统计美国房地产的外国投资时，却并未将刘先生的交易计算在内，因为他的公司Standard Portfolios注册地在美国加州。

如按总部设在中国的投资者计，今年中国对美国商业地产投资仅为6,260万美元，按国别计排全球第十二位。相比之下，据Real Capital Analytics数据显示，加拿大是美国房地产今年最大外资来源国，仅8月投资额就达18亿美元左右。

不过中国其它投资形式显然在不断增多，因为中国这个世界经济增长引擎不断产生数十亿美元的现金盈余，这些现金都在寻找投资机会。例如，中国主权财富基金中国投资有限责任公司(China Investment Corp.)一直在研究购买以美国为重点的房地产基金股份。这些投资也不会被Real Capital Analytics统计在内，因为中投公司不会直接投资美国房地产。

Real Capital Analytics高级市场分析师Ben Carlos Thypin说，很多外资是通过中介进入美国房地产市场的，因此不会出现在统计数据当中。

刘先生拒绝接受笔者的采访。不过与之合作的其他人说，刘先生两笔规模最大的交易说明，他既有厘清不良资产的耐心，也有让卖方相信他诚意的足够多的资金。

据奥斯古德说，刘先生去年末创立了Standard Portfolios公司，不久就开始大量购买美国住宅楼。刘先生在美国的房产投资曾长期局限于一些生地。奥斯古德说，近十年来，也就是刘先生五十多岁时，他一直在美国安家。他与妻子在洛杉矶郊外有一套房子，他常常往返于北京和洛杉矶之间。

刘先生预计近期的高房屋止赎率会使得更多承租人进入租赁市场，并有助于稳定房产市场，即使是在凤凰城这样遭受打击最严重的地区。奥斯古德说，刘先生希望继续这种购置活动，尤其是在美国西部。奥斯古德说，他想要的是规模。

在凤凰城交易中，刘先生以相对较少的现金实现了规模化。受聘协助凤凰城房产购买交易的公寓住宅投资银行机构Hendricks & Partners合伙人佛雷斯特（Mark Forrester）说，刘先生付了大约1300万美元现金，并承担约1.2亿美元左右的债务，这些债务被重组为交易的一部分。负责这桩交易的管理方Trigild Inc.的霍夫曼（Bill Hoffman）说，刘先生还提供了175万美元不可退还的押金，这笔资金帮助他赢得了竞标。刘先生通过某些方法获得了颇为公道的价格。Trigild说，Standard Portfolios支付的价格为每套房4.8万美元，远远低于2007年这2,759套房7.8万美元的单价。

据Real Capital说，上述交易之前，Standard Portfolios今年早些时候还斥资2.96亿美元购买了德克萨斯和马里兰州大约16栋公寓楼，此前也是Bethany Group旗下分支机构所有。另外，Standard Portfolios还购买了佛罗里达的一栋公寓楼，具体价格未披露。

一些分析师预计会有更多的中资银行和机构追随像刘先生这样的投资者的脚步。芝加哥的LaSalle Investment Management全球策略师戈尔登（Jacques Gordon）说，他们拥有庞大的资本。