Chinese New Year brings Golden Week property investors to Manchester

Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, holds over 4,000 years of history and is the most important annual event in the Chinese calendar.

The holiday also commemorates the first Golden Week of the year, as Chinese nationals enjoy seven continuous nonworking days.

Golden Week is also an opportunity to travel overseas and new figures released by travel experts ForwardKeys show that Chinese New Year flight bookings are up nearly 10% compared to last year. And it seems that Chinese tourists are returning to Europe with a 68.5% increase in flight bookings compared to the same festival period in 2016.

Many Chinese even combine business and pleasure by taking a holiday that enables them to investigate overseas’ property markets first hand.

Juwai.com, a Chinese property portal for buyers looking to invest in property overseas, stated that in November 2016 Chinese interest in Manchester property had increased by 53.8%, compared to the same month in 2015.

Jonathan Stephens, Managing Director of leading property consultancy, has certainly noticed a rise in Chinese buyers directing their investment toward Manchester. He explains,

“Interest for the local property market has increased from Chinese buyers with Manchester’s credentials as an investment hotspot continuing to grow, not only leading the Northern Powerhouse but also challenging London as the buy-to-let capital of the UK.”

“Chinese New Year provides prospective investors with the time to travel and explore the Manchester market before making final property purchases. We expect buyers from China to take this opportunity and believe that as interest in the market continues to rise, many will make Manchester their top destination of choice.”