Chinese outbound investment continued its rapid growth, reaching $17 billion over the first five months of 2016 and accounting for 65.6% of the total investment of 2015 at $25.734 billion, according to a new report from DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield.

China was the world’s second largest source of outbound property investment after the United States at $19 billion. China moved up three spots from the end of last year, when the country ranked fifth behind the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore.

As for investment by destination, 62.3% of Chinese outbound property investment totaling $10.6 billion went to the U.S. during the first five months of this year – a marked contrast from previous periods in which investors tended to spread capital notably among the U.S., Hong Kong and Australia.

By locality, New York City was the hottest overseas target for Chinese property investors, receiving an estimated $3.5 billion of capital over the first five months of 2016.

“The wave of Chinese investment to the U.S. has far outpaced last year’s total of $4.37 billion by 143% thanks to dollar appreciation and a recovering U.S. economy,” said James Shepherd, managing director, research, greater China at DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield.

Office remains the most popular asset class, accounting for 50% of total outbound Chinese capital from January to May 2016. Top destinations for office investments were Hong Kong and the U.S., accounting for more than 80% of transactions by Chinese investors.

Hotel transactions were not far behind, accounting for 42% of all Chinese outbound transactions and reaching $7.1 billion over the first five months of 2016, already 28% more than recorded all of last year.

“Supportive U.S. visa policy is one important factor that has made it easier for potential Chinese investors and tourists to travel to the U.S., bearing fruit in the form of a flood of Chinese buyers of U.S. hotel properties over the last several years,” said Justina Fan, DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield’s head of outbound investment, greater China, and managing director, Asia Pacific.

DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield is projecting Chinese investors’ presence in cross-border real estate will hit 50% growth this year. The expectation is that the dollar will continue to strengthen and the U.S. economy will maintain steady growth.