Chinese Communists Are Buying up American Housing | The American Spectator

Chinese nationals have just shattered their own records for American property purchases, dropping a staggering $13.7 billion on U.S. homes in the past year alone — an 83 percent increase that should send alarm bells screaming through every statehouse and suburban neighborhood in America.

This isn’t simply foreign investment. This is strategic territorial acquisition by a hostile communist regime that views American soil as nothing more than another asset to be harvested, exploited, and ultimately controlled. Every deed signed, every property transferred, every American family priced out represents another small victory in Beijing’s patient, methodical campaign to own America without firing a single shot.

The numbers are breathtaking in their audacity. Chinese buyers accounted for nearly a quarter of all foreign property purchases, snapping up 11,700 homes at an average price of $1.17 million. These aren’t desperate refugees seeking shelter — these are strategic actors deploying capital with military precision, targeting the most valuable real estate markets while American families struggle to afford their first apartments.

California, the crown jewel of American innovation and prosperity, has become Beijing’s primary target. Thirty-six percent of all Chinese property purchases occur in the Golden State, transforming entire neighborhoods into extensions of Communist Party influence. Maryland and New York follow close behind, creating a corridor of Chinese-controlled assets from the financial capital to the political nerve center of American power.

The timing could not be more revealing. As China’s own real estate sector collapses under the weight of decades of speculation and corruption — with giants like Evergrande crashing into bankruptcy — Chinese elites are desperately moving their wealth offshore. But this isn’t mere capital flight; it’s wealth extraction on an unprecedented scale. Communist Party members and their cronies are converting their ill-gotten domestic gains into permanent stakes in American communities.

Consider the perverse logic at work here. The same authoritarian system that has imprisoned millions of Uyghurs, crushed Hong Kong’s democracy, squashed religious liberty in Tibet, and threatens Taiwan daily is now being rewarded with ownership rights in American neighborhoods. Chinese nationals who prospered under a regime that considers the United States its primary enemy are being welcomed as “investors” while American families face an affordability crisis that grows worse by the month.

The National Association of Realtors, in their studied neutrality, frames this as mere market dynamics. Chinese buyers are simply “diversifying their investment portfolios” and seeking “strong cash flow investment opportunities.” This bloodless language obscures a fundamental reality: foreign nationals are systematically pricing Americans out of their own housing market while creating permanent footholds for a hostile foreign power.

The security implications are staggering. Every Chinese-owned property becomes a potential intelligence asset, a safe house, or a logistics hub in an expanding network of foreign influence. The proximity to military bases, government facilities, and critical infrastructure is clearly no coincidence. Chinese buyers aren’t randomly selecting properties based on school districts and commute times — they’re building a comprehensive map of American vulnerabilities.

The economic warfare aspects are equally disturbing. By inflating property values beyond the reach of ordinary Americans, Chinese purchasing power effectively locks an entire generation out of homeownership. Young Americans find themselves competing not against fellow citizens, but against the accumulated wealth of a command economy that has spent decades manipulating currency, stealing intellectual property, and exploiting slave labor to generate capital.

The rental market dynamics reveal the long-term strategy at work. Chinese investors aren’t buying homes to live in them — they’re creating permanent income streams while maintaining control over American housing stock. American families become tenants in their own neighborhoods, paying rent to foreign landlords whose ultimate loyalty lies with Beijing.

State and local officials, drunk on property tax revenues and construction jobs, have become willing accomplices in this economic colonization. They celebrate each major sale as evidence of their area’s attractiveness, never questioning why American communities should be auctioned off to the highest foreign bidder. The same politicians who lecture about “foreign interference” in elections actively facilitate foreign acquisition of American soil.

The student buyer phenomenon adds another layer of concern. Nearly one-fifth of Chinese property purchases are justified as educational investments, creating a pipeline where student visas quietly evolve into permanent residential footholds. The homes bought for college rarely return to the market — they stay in Chinese hands, anchoring long-term influence in American towns and suburbs. Meanwhile, lawmakers chase headlines with TikTok hearings and hollow outrage over apps, all while the slow bleed of sovereignty continues unchecked.

Existing regulations are a joke — easily bypassed by shell companies and proxy buyers who know exactly how to scrub a money trail. On paper, it’s domestic. In reality, the power flows elsewhere.

The psychological impact cannot be overstated. Entire neighborhoods now feature streets where Chinese characters appear on mailboxes, where property management companies report to Beijing-based parent firms, where the basic assumption of American residential areas — that they’re owned and controlled by Americans — no longer holds.

This is economic warfare disguised as investment, territorial acquisition masquerading as market participation. Every Chinese-purchased property represents a small defeat in a larger campaign for American independence and sovereignty. The Communist Party understands what American policymakers refuse to acknowledge: that ownership of land equals ownership of power, influence, and ultimately control.

The solution requires immediate action across multiple fronts. Federal legislation must restrict foreign ownership of residential property, particularly by nationals of hostile regimes. State and local governments must stop prioritizing tax revenue over national security. American financial institutions must be prohibited from facilitating these transactions.

Most importantly, Americans must recognize that this isn’t about xenophobia or economic protectionism — it’s about survival. A nation that allows foreign adversaries to own its neighborhoods will eventually discover that it no longer owns itself. The time for polite concern has passed; the time for decisive action is now, before the American dream becomes permanently available only to the highest Chinese bidder.

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