Sotheby’s International Realty and Juwai.com have announced an alliance that gives Sotheby’s agents and brokers an edge when it comes to marketing their listings to Chinese buyers.
While international buyers from other countries’ interest in U.S. real estate may be waning, Chinese buyers are still as interested as ever in purchasing U.S. properties.
In 2009, Chinese buyers acquired 10 percent of U.S. real estate that was purchased by foreign buyers. By 2015, that share of purchases had jumped to 28 percent.
According to SIR’s press release, the company believes that the Chinese share of real estate purchases on U.S. soil will only continue to increase as the number of Chinese millionaires is expected to increase a whopping 74 percent to 2.3 million by 2020, giving them access to a new crop of affluent buyers.
“From now on, our listings will also be promoted on Juwai.com. Having Juwai.com’s team respond to leads in timely fashion overcomes the cultural and time-zone challenges of working with overseas buyers,” said SIR Chief Marketing Officer Wendy Purvey in a press release.
“That’s a huge competitive advantage to our affiliates and independent sales associates, and to their clients.”
As of Sept. 7, SIR’s listings will appear on Juwai.com and populate the search results on the site. SIR’s Global Vice President John Passerini says the listing information will be sent directly to Juwai.com since the brokerage’s listing content requirements “go above and beyond” MLS requirements.
Juwai’s Chinese-language team will field consumer inquiries in real time, then translate and forward them to the SIR sales associate who is responsible for the listing.
Lastly, SIR will have a brand overview page and banner ads on the Juwai homepage.
Sotheby’s brand page on Juwai.com.
Purvey says the alliance is part of SIR’s overall global expansion plan, and gives the brokerage greater access to their second-largest source of website visits.
“We are constantly looking for opportunities to expand globally by adding new distribution opportunities that showcase properties to affluent consumers in key growth markets,” said Purvey.
“The alliance with Juwai.com achieves that by giving us better access to a market that is already one of our most important, and which promises great future growth.”