Chinese buyers are an increasingly common sight at estate agents’ offices across the globe. However, a small but growing band of foreigners is reversing the trend and buying homes in China.

Many international buyers are drawn to China’s dwindling stock of heritage properties. This includes Beijing’s siheyuan, or courtyard homes, most of which were built during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) and Shanghai’s art deco apartments and lilong town houses, which date from the early 20th century. These homes are usually centrally located and expensive. A siheyuan with a total area of 550 sq metres, for example, can easily command Rmb60m ($9.6m). Buyers must also budget for renovations, which can top Rmb70,000 per sq metre for a lilong.

For Canadian Leo Seewald, who restored a 1930s red-brick house in Guangzhou, the process was a labour of love. To preserve the home’s character, he had art deco-style iron window grills custom made, and then reused their design on other parts of the house. But Seewald also discovered a drawback to heritage properties: complex ownership structures.