On Wednesday 15th January, BBC World’s Impact program aired at 1.30pm and this edition focussed on one of the hottest topics in the world – the shift of financial power from West to East. Since China opened it’s doors to the West, it’s huge population demographic has enabled it to create immense sums of wealth. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that 6% of the world’s ultra high net worth individuals – defined as being worth in excess of $50 million – are from China and that the number of billionaires in the China has skyrocketed to 315 from 0 just a decade ago.
All this extra money has had a knock on effect. Luxury houses in premier cities around the globe have seen their prices soar as demand from Asian investors chases the price up.
This is something we know about well at Rising Dragon Feng Shui. In 2012, the Embassy Gardens development that Master Angela Ang Feng Shui auditted became the quickest selling property development in London for the year, despite the bleak UK economic outlook.
We’ve also been involved with Feng Shui for property developers in other areas where Chinese buyers are increasing prices from the well known like Vancouver, Canada to the less apparent, like Hawaii, USA.
Back on home turf in London, Master Angela Ang regularly assists buyers and agents with Feng Shui for high end properties determine a suitable short list of residences.
It’s not just us saying this either. The Chinese house buying phenomenon has been reported around the world.
Whether your property is your biggest investment or you’re a commercial property developer, it’s becoming more and more important to incorporate traditional Chinese Feng Shui into your spaces.
This doesn’t mean the flimsy New Age Western interpretation of Feng Shui; it’s not about a fresh lick of paint and a strategically placed Buddha head. Chinese buyers, especially those with money, are far too Feng Shui savvy to see just this superficial level.
It’s about the internal structures and space, the way Qi flows from the main road into the residence and where it collects.
If you’re a property developer, you can easily boost your sales velocity by incorporating elements of this at design stage.
If you’re a home owner, you can boost the desirability of your house by refitting with the assistance of a Feng Shui master.
In either case, the return on investment of hiring a Feng Shui consultant can be huge as Embassy Gardens demonstrated.
Some investors have argued that they buy the houses for profit and anything that eats into that when they rent them on isn’t worth it.
Really? Have you ever tried renting a place out only to find that the tenants are constantly complaining of problems?
If the Feng Shui is bad, there’s an increased chance that the rental income the property makes may become troubled as the tenants become distressed.
In that sense, keeping the worst vagaries of Feng Shui away from an investment property isn’t altruistic, it’s an altruism that has one’s indirect best interests at heart – a selfish altruism! Or as His Holiness The Dalai Lama so brilliantly teaches, if one truly wishes to look after one’s own self interest, one must be “wisely selfish” by helping others.
Here’s to more property developers using Feng Shui from outset. If more people had harmonious lives with less hiccups in their personal life, what difference could it make for society? For this, we must be grateful to the new rich of China.
