How much US land does China really own? (2024)

FAQs

How much US land does China really own? ›

While Chinese ownership of U.S. land has been a hot topic among lawmakers — even becoming the center of a Montana Senate race this year — China only had a stake in 383,935 acres of U.S. land as of 2021, which is less than 1% of all foreign-held land.

China owns 384,000 acres of American agricultural land. That's a 30% increase just since 2019. And on top of that, they own land near an air force base in North Dakota.

The Land Report 100 research team analyzes transactions and scours records to determine America's leading landowners. That's how we broke the news in 2020 that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was America's largest farmland owner with more than 260,000 acres.

According to the paper, the sudden and large Chinese investment in California real estate in 2008 was tied to: a) the loosening of Chinese “capital controls” that restrict how much money citizens can move out of the country, and b) the introduction of a series of domestic housing purchase restrictions, which were aimed ...

Foreign persons held an interest in over 43.4 million acres of U.S. agricultural land as of December 31, 2022. This is 3.4 percent of all privately held agricultural land and nearly 2 percent of all land in the United States.

The United States pays interest on approximately $850 billion in debt held by the People's Republic of China. China, however, is currently in default on its sovereign debt held by American bondholders.

Gates himself recently publicly reinforced the idea that his farmland purchases are investments. "The decision to buy this land was made by people who help manage my money so that we get a good return, so that the Foundation can buy more vaccines," Gates said on a November episode of Trevor Noah's podcast.

Outside ownership of US cropland is drawing attention from Washington as concern rises about possible threats to food supply chains and other national security risks.

The largest landowner in the world currently is King Charles III of England. How much land does the Royal Family own? He and the British Royal Family own more than 6,600,000,000 acres of land around the world. They technically own many territories around the globe, amounting to 1/6 of the surface of the planet.

Yes, China does allow foreigners to buy property. But there are a few requirements you'll need to meet as a US citizen venturing into the Chinese property market. These are the country-wide rules, but there may also be other requirements depending on which region you're looking to buy in.

How much US land does Canada own? ›

In fact, between 2010 and 2021, foreign-owned agricultural land increased by 15.8 million acres. Canadian investors own the most land – 31% -- followed by the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. China ranks 18th on the list, owning 0.3% of U.S. agricultural land.

Despite a slowdown in the country's economy, property prices remained relatively high across China in 2022. In Shanghai, the average prices for residential housing exceeded RMB 40,000 per square meter, making the metropolis one of the most expensive cities to live in globally.

Ted Turner, the media mogul, also owns 2 million acres of farmland, while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns over 420,000 acres.

China currently holds 384,000 acres of land in the U.S., which is around 1% of all foreign-held acres. The total holdings for Saudi Arabian investors is about 36,000 acres.

It is a major source of investment in the United States and property sales to foreign buyers totaled 54.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. In recent years, the largest share of foreign residential buyers originated from Canada and Mexico, followed by China.

Recent reporting shows that a CCP-affiliated corporation purchased farmland in North Dakota that is just a stone's throw from high-capability military bases. The purchase raises the possibility that the Chinese government could use the farmland as a launching pad for espionage under the guise of operating a business.

However, China leads when it comes to the land area compared with the U.S. World Atlas says China is approximately 2% larger than the U.S. in terms of land area.

The largest landowner in the world currently is King Charles III of England. How much land does the Royal Family own? He and the British Royal Family own more than 6,600,000,000 acres of land around the world. They technically own many territories around the globe, amounting to 1/6 of the surface of the planet.

#1: Sierra Pacific Industries

Sierra Pacific Industries isn't just the largest private landowner in California, with about 1.74 million acres in the state as of 2022, per Regrid's data. It's the largest in the nation, overseeing more than 2.4 million acres of timberland in California, Oregon and Washington.