Edited by Alessandra Conforti
The Great Estate & Chesterton Real Estate Group is developing a new project in China, for the Chinese, where investors look to Europe and Italy in particular. Together with Simone Vicari who will coordinate the project in Italy for the Group, is Wei Li, who will explain to us a little bit more about this landmark project.
I was born in Nanjing and I am a Chinese entrepreneur who has been working in the catering industry in Italy for over 20 years. During these years I also developed other activities in support of Chinese investors who wanted to establish manufacturing businesses in Italy, especially in the textile industry.
I will be the contact person for the China side of the project.
Having maintained a good reputation with important interpersonal relationships in China, I will be able to facilitate communication between Asia and Italy. I have also acquired a good knowledge of the law in Italy especially in immigration, as I am a Chinese Immigrant too, so I have knowledge and experience in both business and family aspects of the law.
There are several categories of Chinese, some, who have assets and an important level of education but have a more traditional outlook, and do not have a broad international perspective. They mainly like modern buildings, with several apartments that are technologically equipped, have good public transport connections and are close to amenities, like schools, for example, in order to create a better future for their families.
However, there are is also a growing band of potential clients who already have an international outlook and their aim is to make an investment, as the real estate in China has almost reached its peak in some major cities, such as Shanghai or Shenzhen. Therefore many are taking advantage of the local market in China to sell and move the investment to Europe (Italy) where they can still find good investment opportunities, like, villas, estates and vineyards, to name a few.
For now, Rome, Milan and also, of course, Tuscany are the most popular. However, we are still at the beginning of the project so we cannot statistically assess which areas are going to be of the most interest yet.
There is no minimum budget for Chinese investors and Italian law does not require a minimum amount. It may well happen that sometimes a buying group, all with different profiles; decide to make a major investment by purchasing even several properties at the same time.
The best approach is to always convey a sense of transparency and trust, often everything is based on trust. Chinese buyers require a very formal appearance and of course our team is very professional and reassuring. Our goal is to remove any potential doubt by giving them security and a high level of professionalism and maintain a relationship with the client from day one and even after the sale, for example, the choice of residence and taking care of all the issues necessary for obtaining a long-term investment.
