The recent announcement of the partnership between JD.com and Juwai has just simplified the way for the Chinese to purchase a home outside of China.
JD.com is a Chinese E-commerce organization, comparable to Amazon, with its headquarters located in Beijing, China. With 266.3 million active users, it is noted as one of largest business to consumer online retailers in China.
Juwai is a Chinese online portal for buyers to purchase properties that are overseas. Retrieving information from property marketers, real estate agents, and developers, they are able to connect Chinese buyers to listings all over the world. They currently have approximately 2 million active users on their platform.
Although the process is fairly simple, it is not the same as purchasing regular goods such as household items and clothing. The process requires interested buyers to make an interest payment of roughly $2,000 CAD ($10,000 RMB). Then, they are able to connect with a team of experts from Juwai to acquire further information and to proceed with the deal. In the case that the deal falls through, the interest is fully refundable.
The collaboration of these two companies will allow Chinese consumers to easily view listed properties in Canada as if these items were average everyday goods. Listings from Vancouver, dubbed as one of the best cities to live in, will be exposed to the Chinese consumers. However, with the expansion of the foreign buyers’ tax and announcement of the speculation tax by the B.C. government, it is unknown whether this partnership between JD.com and Juwai will continue to drive the sales of homes in the Greater Vancouver area.
In addition to Canada, Juwai and JD.com will also be listing properties from the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Source(s):
- https://globalnews.ca/news/4115569/juwai-vancouver-real-estate-listings/
- https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/article-juwai-to-sell-canadian-properties-to-chinese-online-shoppers/
- https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/03/31/canadian-houses-for-sale-jd-com_a_23399934/
- http://www.vancourier.com/real-estate/china-s-amazon-to-start-selling-canadian-real-estate-1.23252532