FORT LAUDERDALE, FL—The United States has become an increasinglyattractive market for Chinese investment and the rate of investmentwill likely accelerate due to the recent slowdown in China'spreviously booming economy coupled with Chinese investors' desireto diversify their investments. In the past 12 months, Chinesedevelopers, funds and individuals invested approximately $5.9billion in US commercial properties and $28.6 billion in USresidential properties. According to the Los AngelesTimes, Chinese investment in US businesses may increase fromits current level of $50 billion to $200 billion by the end of2020, which provides a tremendous opportunity for US businesses tocapitalize on this trend.

Although Chinese investment clearly is a great source of fundingfor US real estate projects, many US businesses and developers havemixed feelings about dealing with Chinese investors. In addition tothe obvious challenges posed by cultural differences and thelanguage barrier, there are common misconceptions that Chineseinvestors are unpredictable, change their minds frequently, makeunusual requests, are more difficult to negotiate with and takesignificantly longer to make decisions than their UScounterparts.

In a series of three articles or episodes, we will attempt todemystify Chinese investors by providing insight into common goals,concerns and constraints that are particular to Chineseinvestors which explain the rationale behind their decision makingprocess. Each article will address the following differenttypes of Chinese investors: Chinese developers, Chinese fundsand investment companies, and Chinese individuals. In this Episode1, we will focus on the Chinese developers, which consist ofcompanies developing real estate projects in China as their primarybusiness.