Archive for Developements

Blackstone selling Channel 1 Mall to New World

Channel 1 Mall Shanghai

Channel 1 Mall Shanghai

Blackstone the “glamorous” american buyout firm is selling it’s Channel 1 Mall on Changshou Lu (Shanghai Reailway Station) for 1.46 Billion Rmb to New World Developement (you know the ones that are responsible for that k11 damage done to Huaihai Road, at least this time they’re not hitting prime location in Shanghai).

Blackstone bought the Mall a couple of years ago for 1 Billion RMB from a Hongkong Investment firm when still vacant, it has succesfully transformed it and upgraded it to about 95 percent tenancy ship.

Funny, Blackstone is also actively seeking 5 Billion for it’s China Buyout fund, seen better deals eh?

Oh, and just btw, Greece Default set?
Prepared?

Filed under: China Real Estate, Developements, Economy, Land Sales, Shanghai Real Estate News | , , , , |No Comments

Ferguson Lane is expanding

The neat developement that is Ferguson Lane on Wukang Road near Tai’an Road in the French Concession has expanded already last year by taking in the Residential Mansion in front of Franck and convert it into a modern Gallery Space.

Now it has continued on it’s way to become a major French Concession Destination by acquiring the  Real Estate Hotel (actual name really was this, since the owner was the Real Estate Bureau of Shanghai) and added 5 Floors of Office Space over 3300 square meters, and a grand first floor flag ship Restaurant, 2nd Floor Cocunut Paradise and top Floor Cocktail Bar.

Ferguson Lane is a Hongkong Shanghai Creative, upper class developement, housing boutique businesses, creative and financial companies as well as some fine Dining Restaurants.
Commercial Space in Ferguson Lane is for lease here.

Filed under: Developements, Retail Real Estate, Shanghai Real Estate News, Trends | , , , |No Comments

New developement sales up 150% in march

Shanghai just keeps going and going, and going, it might be time that energizer lets go of it’s catch phrase and leaves it to our beloved real estate market.

According to reports, in March 2010 sales are up an astonishing 150% for storefronts and malls from february.
And 55% more than they were in march 2009.

There has been an increase in develepements, and the chinese new year holidays have certainly played a role, but this doesn’t keep me to still take a step back and glance at the numbers in awe.
The average price has increased 0.37% for march from february and is also up 48% from March 2009 and locked at 19767 Rmb per square meter average.

The city has seen a huge increase in investment style storefronts for sale in newly developed malls especially in the minhang and songjiang area, they’re often sold with tenants already waiting in line to take up the place and pay rent.

The hubs in the areas nearby major subway stops such as Xinzhuang and the new Songjiang stops have gotten a great boost in recent years thanks to the influx of people from the rural areas taking up jobs in the city and living in the more affordable areas nearby the subway stations.

Filed under: Developements, Market News, Retail Real Estate, Shanghai Real Estate News, Trends | , , , , , |No Comments

Is disaster looming? Or will Shanghai defy all naysayers after the expo?

Dear Shanghai and of course, everybody else reading this out there….

…. happy chinese new year!

I’ve had a break, for the first time in years, and really was able to put some thought into the madness of this Real Estate market we all love.

First, upfront, I’m speculating based on my experience and “insight” into the inner workings of this market.
It’s not a numbers game, it’s as I always say here, plain common sense to me.

And this post is a question asked to the future, not a prediction.

So, now, to get at it.
Recently our real estate firm got a lot of new customers that came directly related to the expo, several countries are sending in people just for the expo, and companies do so though.
That for us amounted to about an extra 30 or so clients that are directly involved in the 2010 Shanghai Expo.
Most will stay for a year starting now and are looking for apartments downtown, though some chose Pudong it was mainly downtown.

Realizing that they’re snapping up lot’s of commodity out there and started putting a small squeeze into a previously relaxed market I asked myself what happens after they all leave.
Obviously, it’ll go back to it’s more relaxed state of 2008 and 2009.

But, how many people are here, indirectly involved with the expo?
And how many will stay, or more importantly leave when their employment contract expires after or during the expo year?

I looked back a few cases, and counted, there is an endless number of advertising client-el that arrived in the city because of the 2008 Olympics, a lot of them left, but some stayed.
I wonder how many stayed just because of convinience for the expo being so close a date?

We had a few engineers and IT people too, from firms, not solely working on the olympics or expo, but with a few projects tied to it.
Will the demand for this highly technical skill drop after?
How significant will the drop be if that’s the case?

I don’t know, it would be a prediction.
What I remember from the short downturn during the financial meltdown i the US is that landlords panicked, and competed against each other just 2 months in when the market was in a seasonal low anyway (christmas, western and chinese new year), resulting in some rents being had at 50% of the previous price.
Things quickly picked back up when the demand for rental properties was back to the usual high of march and april.

This year it started early, and it’s at least partially related to the expo.
Remembering the panic price slashing that time I don’t know if it’s a good thing that landlords went by without the yearly dryspell of places staying vacant for a whole month or longer (obviously, there are places like that, but these are deadbeats, bad places that stay vacant in the hottest markets anyway).

I don’t see 1000’s of places being empty after the expo, but it could easily be, that if a lot of people leave because this thing is over people go back to panic price slashing, just the difference would be that this downturn is for good.

Would a slow rental market affect prices of luxury items in the city?
I think a long slow market could do that, I mean, who wants to sit on a place they can’t rent out for the price of their mortgage?

Will investors scoop the bargains like they always did before, or will they recognize that this slow market might hold for a long time and spark a correction?

Thoughts anybody?
And please, don’t take my ramblings to serious! :-)

Filed under: Developements, Economy, Market Theory, Rumors, Shanghai Real Estate News | , , , |1 Comment

Some People won’t sell…

For some people it’s fear, for most it’s joy, the gov. people and developers coming in and offering to buy the property you hold of your hands.
They usually offer a little more until you refuse them a few times and they offer you a huge sum above market price for your pad.

This just happened to an old guy holding a smal 30 square meter one bedroom no kitchen place on Sinan Road that is supposed to become the next Xintiandi.
Negotiating for months the developers have gotten nowhere,
our Shanghainese hero has of yesterday been offered 35 Million Rmb for his 10 square meters of the new Xintiandi.

And I write about him here, because he refused this offer.

350k Rmb per square meters for his old run down “gongfang” that has already been abandoned by most of his neighbors wasn’t enough.
Yesterday, he told us, he’s holding out for 120 Million, and apparently they can offer him this or build the new paulaners around him.

:-)

Now, that would mean Real Estate prices have still some room to go, and that this elder citizen might be shanghai’s most shrewd negotiator in the property game.

Filed under: Developements, Rumors, Shanghai Real Estate News, Trends | , , , , , |6 Comments

Shanghai Real Estate News – Average price per sqm tops 20k Rmb for the first time

Shanghai Real Estate prices have popped 20,000 the 20,000 Renminbi per square meter for the first time.

In the last week Shanghai’s average price per square meter has hit 20,826 Renminbi per square meter.
A magic mark, having hovered around 19000 Renminbi for a long time this year, and during the 2007 high.
Transaction volume decreased around 25% in the week from rising 5% the week earlier.
Total transaction was 296,000 square meters.

Shanghai Budget Housing launched
Shanghai has opened the run on the first 7200 units of it’s budget housing project.
The Apartment’s located in Jiading, Songjiang and Minhang which offer 70%ownership and cannot be sold wihtin 5 years, will sell for under 5000 Rmb per square meter.
The run on the properties have been big, but the rules are strict;
each applicant must hold a shanghainese houshold certificate for longer than 7 years, and must have lived  in the district of application for at least 5 years (means the registered address from what I understand), the household average maximum income per head is no more than 27600 Rmb, and their assets are not to exceed 70,000 Rmb (per head).
and other criteria…

The properties limits are also set according to each household’s unique setting, say a family with a child younger than 8 years old is to apply for the 61sqm unit.

Developer demands VIP card to see model room
What the Property Community names as the most “NIU” (sort of means “able”) developer in town has asked people interested in buying their product (villa’s) averaged at 17000 Rmb per sqm to first buy a VIP card for 300′000 Rmb. Or they won’t be shown anything in the compound!

The approach seems to bear fruit, the development has already transacted more than 90 Million RMB worth and it hasn’t even officially opened yet!

Filed under: Developements, General News, Shanghai Real Estate News | , , , , |1 Comment

Shanghai’s Green Land Group buys Long Hua Road No 1960

Shanghai’s Green Land Group has undermined once again they are the kings of the cities real estate deals.
They have bought 1960 Long Hua Road (Xuhui District) lot for 7.245 Billion Rmb (27231 Rmb per sqm) more than double the current per square meter price of the area (average for apartments, not land).

The Area around 1960 Long Hua Road is under heavy construction and close to Xujiahui and the Huangpu River (the expo site is about 20 minutes away).

It’s a strategic water front area and reports hint that the group plans to built smaller apartments for the growing middle class in the city.

Filed under: China Real Estate, Developements, Market News, Shanghai Real Estate News | , , , , |No Comments

Some interesting number crunching

These are some of the latest official numbers from the Shanghai Real Estate Market.

As of March 30th there were 18771 residential properties for rent in Shanghai, representing a total area of 2.5 Million square meters.

There are 99338 residential properties for sale (11 Million sqm), out of which 47523 qualify as ordinary residential properties (these properties are less expensive and smaller, and they only require a 20% downpayment).

In the last week of March 58 Units of Yanlord Town were sold at an average of 33323 Rmb per square meter in the Huamu Area of Pudong.

Filed under: Developements, Shanghai Real Estate News, Trends | , , , , |No Comments

New Record! Shanghai Shimao Sheshan Club sells Villa at 205 Million RMB

 


Shimao Sheshan Villa's

Shimao Sheshan Villa

Shanghai’s Sheshan Shimao Country Club Developement just broke the news that they completed the sale of two villa’s.
One of the two sets a new record as most expensive personal residence in China. It set it’s buyer back for a hefty 205 Million Rmb or about 30 Million US$. The other smaller unit sold also cost an impressive 155 Million Rmb.
Though these are china’s most expensive residences buy total price, it’s actually very “cheap” if you think about it in per square meter price.
The bigger unit is about 26400 Square meters large which  puts the per square meter price at only 7700 Rmb.
Now that’s a real bargain considering many of the downtowns luxury residences commanding as much as 120′000 per square meter.
Also, the latest statistics also report a 38% spike in transaction volume, though I doubt that’s the market recovering, I’m glad to have some good news in all this turmoil.
For luxury properties this number is actually even higher, 45% for the month and 72% ytd.  

Check out the official Shimao Sheshan Villa Website. 40 Acre Domiciles in Shanghai sound like a way to live!

Filed under: China Real Estate, Developements, General News, Market News, Shanghai Real Estate News | , , , , , , |No Comments

People’s square metro station

Unfortunately I have to admit I don’t take the subway a lot anymore in Shanghai. Only if it’s a short trip and very convinient for me.
What I’ve really been avoiding was people’s square though. It used to be a lot like hell on earth. And switching from line 1 to line 2 or the other way around…. don’t even go there.

Despite my earlier aversion to people’s squares metro station I went there yesterday to get from shanxi rd to nanjing rd west.

First everything was normal, except that there were very little people in the subway during rush hour. I didn’t actually have any trouble breathing. Or turning my head.
That was so so pleasant. But I was really trying to not think about the long hall from line 1 to 2, squeezing through the fences with 1000’s of other people, fighting and falling down the stairs when Shanghai amazed me once more.
The crowds are still there, but in a much larger, open and better organized space. Everything is easy to see. There is no pushing, and there are very high ceilings, it almost feels like it’s straight out of the movie Gattaca.

I walked and stared in awe at a place I’ve been to but have never seen before. It’s 100% changed, and switching lines was almost so pleasant I felt like taking the subway back again.
(It doesn’t matter that I didn’t).

Some pics from Wangjian Shuo’s blog. Guess he’s a more frequent metro traveller for he’s already found it totally changed in january last year. ;-)  

One thing for a strong real estate market is a strong, working infrastructure. This is definitely one of the best and most noticable improvements I’ve seen in the city, for,…well… ever.

I’m certain you’ll read a lot about it during the expo on people’s travel logs, and news sites.

Filed under: Developements, Shanghai Real Estate News, Trends | , , , , |No Comments

« Previous Entries||