China invests in L.A.

A Chinese developer made headlines last week with the purchase of the downtown Los Angeles Marriott, but there's a lot of other dealmaking going on, much of it involving residential real estate. As I mentioned this morning on KPCC, Chinese investors have gotten heavily into the foreclosure market, either as an investment or as residences for their kids who are in the U.S. on student visas. From foreclosuredeals.com:

U.S. college education was among the reasons an enterprising real estate company in China organized recently an investment and recreation tour for 40 Chinese individuals to tour U.S. attractions and at the same look at Los Angeles pre foreclosures and other bargain-priced properties in San Francisco, Boston and New York, where there are thriving Chinese communities.

The Chinese are purchasing more than real estate, of course. Both the privately owned and state-owned companies have been buying into all kinds of U.S. businesses; they have stock in Apple Computer and Coca-Cola, and most recently, there's been talk about a Chinese electric car company setting up an assembly plant somewhere in California (officials in Lancaster have been making a big push). Keep in mind that the amount of investment dollars coming into the U.S. is still relatively small - much smaller than the amount of American investment going into China.