Archive for Rumors

Chinese Stars top the real estate buyers charts

This is some worthy news, though things are still all gloomy, at least here in china, singers and actresses are splashing the cash again for their new homes.

Gigi Lai, the famous 28-year old actress who is the star of the HK Series “the gem of life” and “ultimate crime fighter” has spend an amazing 280 Million Rmb [plus extra costs] (41 Million US$) for her new Penthouse overlooking Hongkongs victoria harbor.

And Taiwanese actor, singer and pop icon Jay Chow has also gotten himself a new pad in Taipei, 260sqm for more than 70 Million Rmb.

Compared to those two, J.Lo’s new 2.05 Million US$ Apartment in Manhattan seem’s almost too cheap for the Latina Queen.

Filed under: Economy, General News, Rumors, Trends | , , , , , |2 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

One of SH’s Real Estate Markets biggest problems? Confusion.

Alright, alright, I probably could have chosen a better title. thanks for letting me know.

 

A few days ago a long time customer of SHPlace called me to see if the rules changed again for foreigners loans and the limitations that were put in place when the market was red-hot.
He actually wanted to know whether the new law that was put into place late 08 that only requires 20% downpayment to buy a normal house is now also true for foreigners?
Or if they loosened the restriction of the property. (A normal house is no bigger than 80sqm, 2 bedrooms, and doesn’t cost more than 1.5 million at the time).

I didn’t think they changed that law, but I still had to consult other people.
I called a few of my friends at different companies and bankers to see if anyone heard something.

I was stunned by the responses, because they were all different, and nobody was really sure. 

All these new regulations and laws, stimulus packages, taxes that are no more are supposed to give buyers and sellers confidence in the market.
I’d say with the confusion exactly the opposite was achieved.

What could the solution be? A hotline, (well, that one actually exists, but you get handed from one person to another so many times that asking your question to the right person is already a science. For those that want to try, 58881688, if you’re outside of Shanghai Dial 021 first).  Oh, and did I forget to mention that each districts has certain new rules that just apply to them too?

Obviously, all new regs are very well thought through, and with the best intentions. The City Government has shown us again and again that they’re up to the task.
The problem here are not the regulations, but the communication of them.

My 2 Cents;
I think a simple site, and one hotline, with one person that knows it all on the other side could take buyer and seller confidence a long way.

Filed under: Market Theory, Rumors, Shanghai Real Estate News, Trends | , , , , |No Comments

City to offer “citizenships” to property buyers?

An interesting article was published on the Shanghai Focus Website on Friday.
It is suggesting the the local government is considering reviving the ‘97/98 policy of offering Shanghainese “Citizenships” to affluent property buyers in the City.

The policie’s goal is to attract buyers from other provinces to the city, bringing both, capital and talent to Shanghai.

If there will be action and a similar policy put into place it is not yet clear what regulations there will be for the properties and individuals qualifying.
Quite possible that there will be capital limitations and requirements of a certain educational background.

The policy did actually work, and housing trippled within four years after the economic collapse of asian markets in 1997.
In 1997 the total residential area sold was 6.9 Million square meters, in 98 the total was up to nearly 12 Million square meters and in 2001 it already hit 17.8 Million square meters.

A popular chinese finance portal conducted a survey of recent buyers and found that about 46% said their number one incentive to buy Shanghai Real estate was to obtain the “citizenship, or grean card” the city was offering.

The article itself and many comments on the site are very optimistic how something like this could actually work to curb the transaction volume which has been close to nothing recently.

Funny, amidst the current financial crisis, and failed attempts to rescue the credit markets you would think that a few people could say that artificially keeping prices inflated in a downturn may only make matters worse in the future.

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

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