中风西渐：美国高端楼盘开始讲究风水

    今年，中国超过加拿大成为美国住宅房产第一大海外买家。在美国，越来越多的房地产开发商和经纪人开始讲究风水，以确保房屋拥有正能量（所谓的“气场”），并吸引中国买家，后者往往愿意为一套风水好的房子掏更多的钱。

    当约琴夫•兰德和妻子打算购买一套新房时，他的华裔妻子坚称，房子的楼梯不能对着大门，因为在中国的风水学里，这种设计会使家里的所有运气从大门溜走。兰德本人也是Better Homes and Gardens Realty房地产公司的管理合伙人，在强调了解中国买家文化偏好，特别是风水的重要性时，他经常跟人们讲起这个故事。

    据《2015国际购房活动简介》称，今年，中国超过加拿大，成为美国住宅房产第一大海外买家。在美国购房的全部外国人中，中国人占到了16%。2014年4月至2015年3月期间，中国买家在美国购房的房款总额估计达到了286亿美元。

    随着中国人对美国房地产市场的影响力与日俱僧，美国销售豪宅的经纪人也开始讲风水。Better Homes and Gardens房地产公司和美国亚洲房地产协会针对500名美籍华人进行了一项调查，86%的受访者认为，他们在购房时会考虑风水好坏。另外，79%的受访者表示，他们愿意为一套风水好的房子掏更多的钱。

    风水说发源于中国，是一门有着上千年历史的古老哲学，人们将它用在房屋建造和城市规划上，以打造一个天人和谐的环境，改善“气场”的流动，使房屋的主人受益。在现代房屋中，这种流动可以通过家具和其它装饰物的布局与摆放来实现。风水说强调环境的整洁，重视镜子的摆放（比如不能对着床），推崇颜色的互补等。此外，风水学运用五行生克原理，使一栋房屋、一个场所或一座城市实现和谐的平衡。

    根据Better Homes and Garden房地产公司的调研，有四分之三的华裔受访者表示，他们不会购买风水不好的房子，比如位于一条死胡同最里面的房子，或是前门与后门正对着的房子。

    把床放在“死位”上，也是风水学的最大忌讳之一——也就是说床脚正对着门。在此次调查的受访者中，有41%的人表示，如果房子犯了这样的风水禁忌，他们是肯定不会买的。

    受访者们平均愿意多付16%的价钱购买风水好的房子，比如用互补色装修的厨房，卫生间摆放有全身镜和植物，家具摆放、平面布局和户型设计得当。

    显然，如果房屋风水好，那么房地产销售商在推销房子时就会事半功倍。诸如美国家装频道HGTV之类的媒体已经开始普及风水常识，各路提供咨询服务的风水大师也如雨后春笋般在美国涌现。

    豪华住宅的开发商们也抓住了这个卖点，将风水元素纳入房子的设施和布局中。

    “天景豪苑”是纽约市皇后区的一座公寓楼盘，它的楼顶花园集合了风水学中的五行因素。入口的位置为了抵抗“邪气”而专门选了一个风水位，公园里的石头、植物、水池和木制品的布局也很有讲究，营造出层层叠叠、错落有致的感觉。

    就连最高端的房地产商也开始讲风水了。比如迈阿密海滩每套售价高达200万到4000万美元不等的丽思卡尔顿公寓，该项目在建造期间特别从香港请来风水大师帕特里克•王，为楼盘指导风水布局。

    王先生首先来到开发商奥斐尔•斯腾伯格家里评估风水。斯腾伯格告诉《南华早报》：“我们请他来确保（家里）有好的气场，我们盖的楼盘没有犯大忌。”

    对斯腾伯格的家初步勘舆后，王先生开始了工作。他精心地选择园林植物，确保楼房面朝正确方向，所有房子“藏风聚气”，并符合阴阳五行理论。尽管这个有着127套房屋的小区要到2016年年底才能建成，但现在就已经售出了一半以上的单元。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    审校：任文科

    More developers and realtors are applying feng shui principles to ensure positive “energy” — and attract Chinese buyers.

    When Joseph Rand and his wife were shopping for a new home, his wife, who is of Chinese descent, insisted the stairs couldn’t face out the front door. That’s because the ancient Chinese design philosophy holds that all luck would flow out the front door. Rand, also a managing partner of Better Homes and Gardens Realty, told the story as a way of underscoring the importance of learning the Chinese buyers’ cultural preferences, especially feng shui.

    This year, China surpassed Canada as the foreign country spending the most on residential properties in the U.S., comprising 16% of international home buyers. Chinese buyers spent an estimated $28.6 billion on residential U.S. real estate between April 2014 and March 2015, according to the 2015 Profile of International Homebuying Activity.

    The growing Chinese presence is partly why realtors selling luxury properties, in particular, are paying more attention to feng shui. A survey of 500 Chinese Americans conducted by Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate and the Asian Real Estate Association of America found that 86% think feng shui will make a difference in their future home buying choices. Additionally, 79% of these Chinese-American home buyers said they would pay more for a house that followed follow feng shui standards.

    Feng shui is a centuries-old philosophy, originating in China, that was used in homes and urban planning to create a calm, harmonious environment and improve the flow of “qi” or positive energy, which is thought to benefit the occupants. In modern homes, this flow is achieved by the layout and placement of furniture and other decor elements. Clutter-free environments are valued, and other key considerations include placement of mirrors (not across from the bed) and complementary colors. In feng shui-styled environments, the Five Elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, are used in combination to align a building, site, or city to a healthy balance.

    According to the Better Homes and Garden Real Estate survey, three-quarters of Chinese Americans said they could see feng shui deal-breakers, such as a house’s location at the end of a dead-end street. Other feng shui buyer turnoffs include homes that have the front door and rear doors aligned.

    A bed placed in the “death position” — that is, with the foot of the bed directly aimed at the door — is one of the biggest taboos. Of those surveyed, 41% indicated this would detract them from buying the home right away.

    Respondents said they would pay an average of 16% more for a home that followed feng shui principles — such as uncluttered kitchens done in complementary colors, a full-length mirror and live plants in the bathroom, proper furniture placement, floor plan, and layout flow.

    Clearly, some home sellers can benefit from adopting some of the principles when staging their house, and that information has been offered from the likes of HGTV, and a cottage industry of feng shui experts has sprung up, offering their services.

    However, luxury housing developers have also taken the cue and are including feng shui elements in their amenities and floor plans.

    The Grand at View Sky Parc, a condominium development in Queens, New York features a rooftop park, integrating the feng shui elements of water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. The entrances were situated to counter negative energies, and the stones, plants, water and wood were placed strategically as well, with geometric forms creating layers of space.

    And feng shui has even moved on up to the highest end of real estate. Developers of the waterfront Ritz-Carlton Residences in Miami Beach, which will be priced from $2 million to $40 million, flew in Hong Kong feng shui expert Patrick Wong to work with the architect on incorporating feng shui principles.

    As one of his first tasks, Wong visited developer Ophir Sternberg’s home to evaluate it. “He wanted to make sure that the energy [in the home] was correct, and that we produce the right sort of building,” Sternberg told the South China Morning Post.

    After Sternberg’s home passed that first test, Wong set to work, choosing landscape plants, assuring the building is facing the right direction, that all units have proper flow and that they incorporate the elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Although the development won’t be finished until the end of 2016, more than half of the 127 units are sold.