Is Trump election good or bad for Chinese property investors in the US? It’s a mixed bag

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Trump tax cuts, tariffs will keep interest rates high, but current owners will benefit from his presidency

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Donald Trump pointed to supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, on election night. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

Cheryl Arcibal

Published: 7:00am, 11 Nov 2024Updated: 7:01am, 11 Nov 2024

Donald Trump’s re-election as US president brings both bad and good news for global investors in the US property market, analysts said, including for the Chinese citizens who make up the largest group of foreign buyers there.

Trump’s expected tax cuts and the inflation unleashed by his slate of tariffs are likely to keep interest rates at elevated levels for longer, according to Knight Frank’s head of global research, Liam Bailey.

This could mean higher property prices, which is good for current owners but bad for prospective buyers. But some do not expect much change is on the horizon.

“There is unlikely to be a huge difference with a Trump victory,” Bailey said. “Biden continued most of Trump’s policies regarding inward investment rules, and it does not seem likely that Trump will see the need to tighten further.”

For the 11th straight year, Chinese buyers were the top foreign acquirers of US residential property for the 12 months that ended in March, collectively spending US$7.5 billion on 6,000 homes, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The association puts buyers from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan under one umbrella: Chinese.

All told, foreigners accounted for 2 per cent of the US$2.1 trillion residential property market in the US for the 12 months that ended in March this year, according to the NAR.