Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices sets sights on Chinese buyers

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, the residential brokerage arm of Warren Buffett’s company, will start advertising American homes on a Chinese website in a push to lure wealthy buyers from the country.

This week, the company announced a deal to advertise U.S. homes on Juwai.com, Bloomberg reported. The website, which is accessible from both inside and outside China, has around 2 million visitors per month. The site reaches more than 400 Chinese cities and another 160 other countries, according to the publication.

“The Chinese have overtaken all nationalities besides Americans as the leading buyers of property in the U.S.,” Gino Blefari, the chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, said in a statement. He added the site will make it “much easier” for Chinese real estate buyers to look at U.S. properties.

The brokerage has been expanding in the American northeast, and earlier this year launched its first New York City operation.

In December, the Corcoran Group struck a deal with Juwai, known as the Zillow of China, to display listings on the site.

Chinese buyers have been major buyers in the city’s condominium market in recent years. However, the Chinese government is cracking down on foreign investment, in an effort to curb the vast amounts of money Chinese nationals move offshore. Several New York City-based bankers told The Real Deal last month that traditional lending to Chinese buyers is up since the rules went into effect. [Bloomberg] — Miriam Hall