Suite dreams: rich Chinese investors become kings of their own castles
Up to 19 castles have been sold to mainlanders this year, with many other Chinese buyers snapping up luxury rooms and suites in properties that have been transformed into elegant hotels
An Englishman’s home is his castle, so the saying goes, but some of China’s richest people are taking it literally and using their wealth to buy up the historic old buildings as property investments.
So far this year, Barrasford and Bird Worldwide, a British-based luxury property broker, has sold castles to 19 Chinese buyers.
Liu Gengxiong, chairman of a Guangzhou-based international trading company that specialises in luxury goods is among the mainland businessmen now planning to spend millions of yuan on buying his own castle.
“Chinese people like travelling to European countries such as France, so I will use my castle as a private club for my clients,” said Liu, who said he was interested in buying a chateau in France or an island in the South Pacific to receive his VIP guests.
Liu, who is also a luxury goods collector, said he had already invested in villas and other residential properties in Europe, but was more interested in buying more unique properties to cater to rich mainlanders who wanted to stay somewhere a little different when travelling overseas on holiday.
