Zillow Group Launches Initiatives to Connect Agents With Chinese Buyers
Jay Thompson
January 12, 2016
2 Minute Read
Today we are excited to announce two new initiatives designed to connect China-based buyers with local real estate agents who can help them with their U.S. home purchase.
Why China?
As CNBC reported back in October of 2015, Chinese buyers are now the top foreign buyers of U.S. domestic properties. Many are looking for higher-end properties, and many are cash buyers. According to the New York Times, Chinese buyers spent nearly $30 billion on U.S. homes last year, more than twice what they spent two years prior.
Given their substantial investment in U.S. markets, it makes sense to provide Chinese buyers with better ways to search for properties and connect with real estate professionals.
Two initiatives to connect with Chinese buyers
China-based buyers can now connect with Premier Agents® (Zillow Group advertisers) in the United States through two different portals; WeChat, the largest and most popular mobile messenger app in China, and NetEase, a leading China-based Internet technology company that is one of China’s largest Web portals.
Greg Schwartz, Zillow Group chief business officer, had this to say about the initiatives:
China-based buyers continue to be a huge influence in the U.S. real estate market — they are growing in number and spending more every year. These new partnerships will help us better serve these home shoppers and drive more business to those Premier Agents partners who have the language skills to navigate these transactions.
In order to provide Mandarin-speaking buyers with the best experience possible, Zillow Group has created a dedicated customer service team with Mandarin language skills and formed a network of Mandarin-speaking Premier Agents in markets that have been of high interest to Chinese buyers including Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle.
Through the WeChat channel, home shoppers have access to content and market information translated into Mandarin as well as the ability to connect directly with Zillow Group and Mandarin-speaking Premier Agents. The Zillow channel is available on WeChat at zillow_china.
NetEase
Zillow will now power the U.S. home search experience on NetEase, where visitors can search for homes in the U.S. on Zillow and connect directly with Zillow and Mandarin-speaking Premier Agents.
NetEase is the second home search experience powered by Zillow in China. Zillow also partners with Beijing Yisheng Leju Information Services Co., a leading real estate services company in China. More info on the Leju partnership can be found here.
With more and more Chinese buyers entering the U.S. real estate market, we are pleased to offer these services to qualified Zillow Group Premier Agents to help them expand their opportunities and serve the Chinese buyers interested in U.S. real estate.
If you are a Zillow Group Premier Agent who speaks Mandarin and are interested in potentially participating in these initiatives, please contact your Zillow Group business consultant.
Read the press release here.
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