The latest National Association of Realtors international transactions data is a useful reminder for luxury agents: international demand is still meaningful, and Chinese buyers remain especially important in high-priced U.S. markets.
In NAR’s 2025 report, China accounted for 15 percent of foreign buyers and led all countries in dollar volume at $13.7 billion, while California remained one of the top destinations for international buyers. Foreign buyers were also more likely than the overall market to pay cash.
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In Bay Area luxury markets, that matters beyond the relatively small slice of truly overseas transactions. Buyers, parents, adult children, wealth advisers and referral networks often consume housing information in more than one language.
If a listing lives only on the MLS, Zillow and an English-only email blast, it may be visible without actually being discoverable to everyone who influences the deal.
For many Chinese-speaking buyers and their advisers, the discovery layer looks different. Neighborhood research, school-district comparison, agent vetting and early property discussion may happen on YouTube, WeChat and Xiaohongshu long before a serious buyer books a private tour.
By the time the showing request comes in, the marketing work has already happened somewhere else.
That does not mean every listing agent needs to become a Mandarin-speaking content creator. It does mean listing strategy should expand beyond portal distribution. Four practical shifts can help.
Build a bilingual asset pack
Start with one polished property summary, neighborhood highlights and a short FAQ in English and Mandarin. This is not about translation for its own sake. It is a signal to buyers’ agents and family decision-makers that the property is easy to understand and easy to share.
Treat premarket as a distribution window
Many agents use the premarket period to stage, photograph and wait. A better use of that window is to test messaging, circulate materials privately and identify where multilingual exposure may create incremental demand before the listing goes fully public.
In our market on the Peninsula, we have seen early bilingual outreach generate serious interest before a listing’s first public open house — not because the property changed, but because the buyer pool expanded.
Borrow reach instead of trying to build it from scratch
In most major markets, there are already bilingual agents, creators and community voices with the right audience. One smart collaboration on a specific property can be more effective than trying to build a brand-new channel from zero.
Measure more than portal impressions
If a listing gets views but no incremental tour demand, no agent-to-agent sharing and no stronger offer competition, the issue may not be price or presentation. It may be distribution quality.
The industry spends a lot of time talking about AI, CRMs and ad tech. Fair enough. But one of the most practical advantages in luxury marketing is still underused: making sure a property is packaged and distributed in the languages and channels buyers actually use.
English-only marketing is not wrong. It is just incomplete. In a market where one additional qualified buyer can change terms, timing and final price, incomplete distribution is a real risk.
Marie Wang and Kevin Mo are co-founders at Meridian Keystone Real Estate Group. Connect with Marie on YouTube and Xiaohongshu, and connect with Kevin on YouTube and Xiaohongshu.
