Asian Fortune Your source for all things Asian American
By Jenny Chen
Despite the recession recovery, luxury home buying is enjoying an increase in attention. Aside from international Asians who have been snapping up real estate across world (Asian Fortune reported on this April 2013), many Asian Americans also have acquired a taste for luxury goods. At the 2014 Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) summit, AREAA President and CEO Philip White said, ““The Asian American market represents a significant growth opportunity in our industry. According to the AREAA, the market has the highest growth rate of any multicultural group in the United States. The Asian American consumer base is growing, affluent, technologically savvy and has increasing buying-power: $718 billion currently, and expected to reach $1 trillion in just five years.”
As one of the more affluent pockets of the United States, the DC area is following the trend.
“The housing market here in the Washington DC Metro Region has improved relative to last year. For the 2013 calendar year, the total number of sales in the region increased 9.3 percent from those in 2012 and the median sale price increased by 9.6 percent,” said Dana Landry a Founding Partner of Washington Fine Properties.
In addition, says Landry, there is a growing demand for luxury condos ($1M and above) with building services such as doormen, athletic facilities, and retail stores. “The ease of condo lifestyle living is appealing to all age groups; Time is one thing you can’t get more of, so many of our clients are opting to spend their money to live in some of the wonderful condos within the city and enjoy their time on other things rather than managing a home,” Landry said.
There seems to be a complicated relationship between Asians and the condo market. One the one hand – international Asians like Psy are fueling the condo market by buying a Westwood luxury condo ahead of its release in Los Angeles and a company named Delancey Bridge Tower, Inc. invested in an Chinese American condo development in Flushing, NY. At the same time, the Asian American Legal Defense Fund released a report titled “Chinatown: Then and Now” which found that luxury condominium developments have dramatically changed the skyline of Chinatowns across the country, gentrifying the areas, and pushing Chinese Americans out.
