Publication:  The Real Deal

Summary:  The Real Deal interviews Wei Min Tan about the surge of property buyers from China coming into NYC.

Wei Min’s comments in article:  

Also, new construction is far preferable to older buildings, perhaps because the older apartments in China aren’t known for being well-constructed, said Wei Min Tan, a broker with Castle Avenue Partners, which is a group within Manhattan-based Charles Rutenberg with 10 Chinese clients, up from none two years ago.

Tan is now putting the finishing touches on a Chinese language Web page, like the one that Bond New York created in April.

Plus, two of the five members of Tan’s team, including Tan himself, speak Mandarin. “Culturally, newer is better,” said Tan, who shows condos like 101 Warren Street, in Tribeca, and the Veneto, at 250 East 53rd Street.

And units here may seem like a bargain. Overspeculation in Hong Kong, which had been a popular draw for wealthy Chinese buyers, is now pushing prices through the roof, Tan said; new one-bedroom condos there can cost $2,500 a foot, as compared with $1,500 a foot in New York.

And despite the well-known legions of working-class Chinese, there are many newly minted upper-class millionaires in the country. “That’s also why you see a lot of high-end wine auctions in Hong Kong, and art auctions,” Tan said. “There are a lot of people who can bid up things.”