The second-biggest foreign owner and the 82nd-biggest owner of American land is a Chinese billionaire. What is he using this farmland for?
From Bloomberg. A Chinese national who made his fortune from online gaming has emerged as one of the most significant non-American holders of land in the US.
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Chen Tianqiao owns 198,000 acres (80,127 hectares) of Oregon timberland, making him the country’s 82nd-largest property owner, according to the Land Report’s latest ranking.
Chen, 50, acquired the acreage from Fidelity National Financial Ventures for $85 million in 2015. …
His Oregon property makes him one of the biggest individual owners of American land by a non-US citizen. Only the Irving family of Canada — No. 6 on the Land Report’s list with over 1.2 million acres of Maine timberland — owns more. …
Some lawmakers have pushed for national rules restricting foreign investment in American agricultural property. … Almost half of all states have some sort of restrictions on foreign ownership. …
Ultra-wealthy investors seeking an inflation hedge and uncorrelated assets have increasingly flocked to farmland and other rural properties in recent years. The average value of US cropland jumped 8.1% last year and has risen by more than a third since 2020, according to the USDA.
The gains are driven by food demand and high inflation but also by interest in rarefied properties, like classic western ranches, that offer recreation as well as investment return potential. …
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(Excerpt from Bloomberg. Photo Credit: KingWu/Getty Images Signature via Canva Pro)