san francisco, las vegas, phoenix, atlanta and los angeles. and as christine romans reports, you may be competing with buyers you wouldn t expect at the next open house. reporter: it s a saturday afternoon in this hong kong hotel. and chinese investors are enjoying a catered lunch while bidding on properties half a world away. [ speaking in a foreign language ] reporter: spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on properties they may never set foot in. the chinese are now second only to the canadians when it comes to buying real estate in the united states. but when they buy, they buy big spending on average $425,000 per property. and most of the time they pay all cash. all cash, preferring big cities like new york and their suburbs. so what s the draw? upside potential, surroundings. we ve got friends and folks who live there, so it s keeping up with the joness. reporter: for andrew chen a