China Real Estate News

China property sales may get boost before year end

2009-11-04T16:09:00.000+02:00

A year after China unveiled a powerful stimulus to encourage home buyers to take out mortgages in a troubled property market, real-estate sales may be getting a boost from concerns that the government will withdraw some of those measures by the end of the year.

Conversely, such concerns have pressured shares of Chinese property developers traded in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong over the past few days and were continuing to weigh on them Tuesday.

AXA to enter China's property market

2009-09-06T08:18:00.000+03:00

AXA Real Estate Investment Managers (AXA REIM) has signed an agreement with Ping An Trust & Investment Co, Ping An Insurance's investment arm, to cooperate in China's property market.

AXA REIM, which was under Europe's No 2 insurer AXA Group, hopes to have a share in the country's high-end housing market with the help of a local company familiar with the Chinese property market, according to a July 27 announcement

Central China Real Estate Gets $99 Million Funding

2009-08-06T01:52:00.000+03:00

HONG KONG -- Property developer Central China Real Estate Ltd. has secured a US$99 million investment in a deal led by private-equity firm FountainVest Partners that bets on rapid growth in China's second-tier cities.

Investors greeted the infusion of capital by sending Central China Real Estate's shares almost 9% higher Wednesday to close at 2.60 Hong Kong dollars (about 34 U.S. cents).

Chinese property stocks have rebounded sharply this year as Beijing pumped money into the economy to fight a slowdown. Analysts say a flood of cheap bank loans is fueling housing sales and pushing up land prices.

Since the start of the year, Central China Real Estate's shares have more than tripled, but they still remain below their initial offering price of HK$2.75 in June 2008, when the company raised US$176 million amid rocky market conditions.

Are China's smaller cities a bargain for investors?

2009-07-15T10:46:00.000+03:00

SINGAPORE/BEIJING (Reuters) - Wuhan, Chongqing and Chengdu aren't exactly names that roll off the tongue for foreign investors in China's real estate, but these cities may offer more bang for the buck than their more-famous coastal cousins or capital Beijing.

Helped partly by the government's "Go West" policy and their less export-focused economies, Chinese cities in the country's interior have posted higher per-capita-income growth than Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the past year.

Along the coast, the port city of Tianjin is fast becoming the business center for northern China as authorities move to revitalize what was once the country's industrial heartland. Dalian and Shenyang are other northern cities growing rapidly.

Property bubble building in China

2009-06-29T22:31:00.000+03:00

So far during this global recession, Beijing has moved quickly to pump billions into the economy to keep it flowing. Their rescue plan was focused on modifying the export based economy into an inward looking economy while the global recession passes. To a large degree it's worked. Exports are down, obviously, but the government has managed to keep growth at a relatively high level though maybe not as high as required to keep up with the always heavy influx of new workers.

Their own stimulus may be running out of gas and it's highly probably they will need to act again because it's wishful thinking to believe Western consumers will come back in the near term. China has the money to invest internally but still, it's a stress and a radical change from the export bubble economy.

Is China's real estate recovery real?

2009-06-20T17:09:00.000+03:00

While housing sales in many parts of the world remain lethargic, sales volumes in China have rebounded strongly.

The pace of sales in some cities has been frenetic. In Guangzhou, first-hand residential transactions rose 108.2 percent in April over year-earlier figures.

In Shanghai, overall sales rose 65.5 percent in April, which included a growth of 77.8 percent in residential sales.

While the average price of housing in 70 major cities continued to fall by 1.1 percent year-on-year in April, it increased 0.4 percent over March.

China's real estate index up in May

2009-06-14T20:00:00.000+03:00

BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhua) -- China's national real estate climate index was 95.94 in May or 1.18 points up from April, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday.

Prices of new and existing homes in 70 large and mid-sized Chinese cities fell 0.6 percent year on year in May, but prices rose 0.6 percent month on month, said the NBS.

The real estate climate index has six sub-indices, including property development, capital source and the area of land developed.

The property market is growing when the index is above 100 and falling when it drops below 100.

E-House China shares rise on strong Q2 revenue outlook

2009-05-22T16:41:00.000+03:00

BANGALORE, May 19 (Reuters) - Chinese real estate services company E-House China Holdings Ltd (EJ.N) posted a quarterly profit that handily beat market estimates, helped by a recovery in real estate transaction volumes, and forecast a strong second-quarter revenue, sending its shares up 13 percent.

For the second quarter, E-House expects revenue to be between $49 million and $51 million, above analysts' average estimate of $38.3 million.

"The outlook not only reflects the rebound in the (Chinese) market, but also the fact that E-House's partners, the developers, are specifically doing well," said Lazard Capital Market analyst Colin Sebastian, calling the outlook "strong."

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2009-05-17T14:54:00.001+03:00

Massive fall in property sales in Asian real estate markets

2009-05-17T14:53:00.000+03:00

The Asian property investment market suffered a massive fall in the first quarter of 2009 with Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong suffering the most.

The region experienced an 83% quarter-on-quarter fall in sales, according to the latest research from property consultants CB Richard Ellis.

Asia's industrial property sector underwent the largest drop by market segment, plummeting 95% from the same quarter a year earlier. This was followed by office and retail property transactions which slid 89% and 40% respectively.

Singapore experienced further declines in investment sales in the first three months of the year with only a few isolated transactions. Analysts said that potential buyers and investors are adopting a wait and see attitude.

How To Invest In Chinese Real Estate

2009-05-11T01:10:00.000+03:00

11 Reasons to Buy Chinese Real Estate

Because inflation is coming (see article)
There is ZERO property tax in China!
There is ZERO capital gains tax in China!
Foreigners are free to own Chinese real estate
The US Dollar is getting weaker
Because there are no attractive alternative investments in the US without significant risk
With a huge Chinese population, real estate prices are extremely stable
China is a cash-based economy. USA is a credit-based economy. This makes China real estate extremely stable.
This investment can be self-directed in an IRA or 401(k) account
Asia is a huge growth opportunity (see article)
Even buying US property at low prices does not guarantee safety.

China Real Estate Stirring?

2009-05-05T16:37:00.000+03:00

For months and months and months and months, my law firm had not been involved in a single China commercial real estate deal. Not one. Sure, we assisted a foreigner or two in buying (or selling) a condo in which to live, but nothing at all on the investment front. Now, just in the last month, we are in the midst of a number of such deals (for a number of clients old and new) and

I read the news and the news says commercial property (retail, office, industrial, etc.) is not selling in China. And I know all real estate is local, but our new deals are in cities where the news clearly applies.

All of our new deals involve foreigners taking out very very long term leases (rather than "buying") office buildings in need of renovation in great locations. All of these deals involve fairly small buildings (certainly small by China standards) owned by Chinese developers who want out. Our clients are small to mid-sized foreign developers who have their "own people" standing by to do the work necessary to renovate and upgrade these buildings (for between $3 and $8 million) and all of them have already lined up some foreign businesses who want to move in.

China Railway sees sales up, may spin off assets

2009-04-30T11:04:00.000+03:00

HONG KONG, April 29 (Reuters) - China Railway Group Ltd , the country's largest railway and highway builder, plans to seek separate listings for its real estate and resources assets at the right time, a senior executive said on Wednesday.

The company estimated its revenue to rise by nearly a quarter to 280 billion yuan this year from 225 billion yuan in 2008, its president, Li Changjin, told reporters.

Real estate offers market hope

2009-04-23T20:28:00.000+03:00

SHANGHAI'S key stock index reversed its morning losses today and ended higher, led by real estate developers after experts said the property market might pick up in the second half of the year.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.11 percent, or 2.61 points, to close at 2,463.95 points. Turnover shrank to 113.29 billion yuan (US$16.67 billion) from 177.6 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks the smaller domestic market, was up 0.74 percent to close at 825.22 points.

China’s real estate market is not yet showing signs of recovery

2009-04-22T13:50:00.000+03:00

Spring is yet to come to China´s housing market, and the government should take more measures to stimulate real estate development, said Ren Zhiqiang, President of Huayuan Group, at a breakout session of the 2009 Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference in Hainan Province on Friday.

China´s real estate market has shown no sign of any remarkable recovery so far. After the global financial crisis broke out, the Chinese government worked out a 4 trillion yuan (US$585.33600 billion emergency plan to boost the domestic economy. To date, however, only some 200 billion yuan has gone to the real estate market, and this investment is far from adequate to bring about any radical change, said Ren Zhiqiang.

As the global financial crisis unfolds, China has loosened some restrictions on the market in second-hand homes.

In China, Property Sales Show Signs of Picking Up

2009-04-18T22:15:00.001+03:00

The volume of real-estate sales in the first quarter rose 8.2% from a year earlier to 113.09 million square meters, or about 135.71 million square yards, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday. Residential property sales increased 8.7%, though the commercial market remained weak, with sales of office property down 13.1%. Property sales had declined sharply for most of 2008, but started to turn around at the beginning of this year.

Property prices remain down but are starting to stabilize. The statistics bureau said the average housing price in 70 Chinese cities rose 0.2% in March from February. That is the first gain after seven consecutive monthly declines, though the price index remains 1.3% below its level in March last year.

Industry expert says China’s real estate bubbles have evened out

2009-04-17T21:41:00.000+03:00

The bubbles brewing in China´s housing market have slowly floated away over the past years, and now the market maintains sound growth, said Yang Hongxu, vice director of E-house China R&D Institute, in a recently published research report.

The conclusion was based on Yang´s estimated housing price-to-income ratio, a basic affordability measure for housing in a given area with a range of three-six recognized as reasonable.

Yang said that China saw the ratio in 2008 decline to the level of 2004 and forecast that it would further fall to 6.2 in 2009.

China has experienced rapid growth in the housing price-to-income ratio in recent years with the ratio fluctuating around 5.5-7.5 per cent from 1996 to 2008, higher than that of developed countries in the same period.

Chinese Real Estate: What's the Trend?

2009-04-15T18:27:00.000+03:00

Annual Report on China's Real Estate Industry, 2008

2009-04-13T20:11:00.000+03:00

In the Jan.-Dec. Period of 2008, China saw a combined investment of RMB 3,058 billion in real estate development, growing 20.9% year on year, with the growth rate falling 1.8 percentage points in the Jan.-Nov. period. Among the combined investment, the residential real estate investment amounted to RMB 2,208.1 billion, rising 22.6% over a year earlier, with the growth rate
declining 2.6 percentage points, and accounting for 72.2% of the real estate investment.

In the same period, Chinese real estate developers witnessed a total floor space of 2.74 billion square meters under construction, growing 16.0% from a year earlier; a newly commenced floor space of 980 million square meters, increasing 2.3% compared to 2007; and a completed floor space of 590 million square meters, falling 3.5%. The floor space of the residential real estate completed was 480 million square meters, reducing 4.2%. Chinese real estate developers bought 370 million square meters of land, down 8.6% year on year, and completed a land development area of 260 million square meters, down 5.6% year on year.

US property dealers eye wealthy Chinese

2009-04-11T23:45:00.000+03:00

This is the first US property selling delegation to China, following a Chinese buying delegation's trip to the US in March.

"China, which has a fast growing economy and an emerging group of rich people, is now a market we cannot afford to miss," said Rob Emerick, head of the US delegation.

According to the Boston Consulting Group's report, China had the world's fifth-largest population of millionaires in 2008, at 391,000, up 20 percent from the previous year.

China Home Prices Will Be Stagnant

2009-04-10T00:19:00.001+03:00

April 8 (Bloomberg) -- China’s housing prices will be stagnant through 2010 as government efforts to spur purchases through economic stimulus measures and lower interest rates fail to cut into a glut of homes, said E-House (China) Holdings Ltd, a Shanghai-based real estate broker and consultant.

“Prices won’t rise until inventory is cleared,” E-House Chief Financial Officer Li-Lan Cheng said in an interview in New York. “I don’t see such a scenario until sometime in 2010.”

China’s economy, the world’s third largest, faces its biggest threat from the real estate sector, Fan Jianping, head of the State Information Center’s economic forecasting department, said March 18. Home prices fell for a third straight month in February, dropping a record 1.2 percent, the National Development and Reform Commission said March 10.

Housing prices in China’s top 20 cities probably declined 5 percent in March, Cheng said. He said oversupply was the worst in Beijing and Shanghai while the southern cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen were “bottoming out.”

Banks Face Big Losses From Bets on Chinese Realty

2009-04-03T12:29:00.000+03:00

They lent his company $400 million, encouraged him to acquire large tracts of land and in early 2008 promoted a proposed $2.1 billion public stock offering by the company, the Evergrande Real Estate Group, in Hong Kong.

One year later, China’s housing market has collapsed, Evergrande is mired in debt and the Wall Street bankers are facing huge losses because the company never sold stock to the public.

Now, analysts say, Evergrande has become a symbol of China’s go-go era of investing, when international bankers, private equity deal makers and hedge fund managers rushed here hoping to cash in on the world’s biggest building boom.

Funds Wary of Risk in China Real Estate

2009-04-01T00:04:00.000+03:00

Overall, real estate in the country remains too risky, illiquid and poorly developed to expect significant overseas investment at a time when bargains are emerging in more transparent markets elsewhere, the executives said.

"International investors are taking their money home," said Richard Price, regional chief executive officer of ING Real Estate Investment Management.

He said well-known complications of doing property deals in China "make people pause" about committing money now.

Falling property prices and a collapse in transactions were a major cause of the slowdown in China's economic growth last year. Foreign investors have been a relatively tiny force in the property market, but they tend to have a disproportionate influence on the market and on policymaking.

China's government has clamped down on speculation in residential apartment prices in recent years partly by pinching foreign investors with new hurdles.

China Life may invest in realty

2009-03-29T09:37:00.000+03:00

According to Yang, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission is expected to allow insurers to invest in infrastructure and real estate soon and is working out the modalities in this regard.

"We expect the guidelines to come out soon. China Life will hire talent familiar with the real estate sector and we are doing the preparatory work in this regard," said Yang.

Industry analysts said it would be good for insurers to invest in the property market, as they can improve their profitability with more investment options.

The sharp fall in the capital markets due to the financial turmoil has put substantial pressure on insurers' investments. China Life saw its total investment return in 2008 falling 61.4 percent from a year earlier, while its net profit drop was about 45.3 percent.

China's property market tipped for revival

2009-03-24T19:13:00.000+02:00

Shimao, a Hong Kong-listed property developer, said it had sold two villas in the leafy Shanghainese suburb of Sheshan, one for 250m yuan and the other for 155m yuan.

The price paid for the 40,000 sq ft house is almost double the previous record of 130m yuan. According to Shimao, the house boasts a bowling alley, a wine cellar and access to a private islet.

China's property bubble burst last year, after two years in which prices doubled in some cities. Faced with spiralling prices, the Chinese government clamped down on lending at the end of 2007, requiring borrowers to put down as much as 40pc upfront for second mortgages.

The subsequent collapse left banks holding billions of bad loans and stalled construction, with many property developers freezing their land banks.