JLL Hires Johnny Shao to Lead Revamped East China Investment Team

JLL introduced Johnny Shao as the new head of its East China capital markets advisory team on Friday as the international real estate consultancies compete to service a booming market for investment properties.

Shao, who previously headed the China investment team at rival CBRE, joins JLL as regional director where he will head a 20 person team advising on en bloc and strata-title sales in the eastern China region.

“I am confident that Johnny Shao—as the head of this capable team—will continue to build upon our unrivalled track record in Capital Markets,” said Anthony Couse, Managing Director of Shanghai and East China for the property consultancy commented. “At JLL, we understand that a critical component to success hinges on our ability to attract talented individuals, and I am happy to have Johnny and the team’s support as our China business grows and develops.”

Shao will report directly to Couse, until the current eastern China office head is replaced by Eddie Ng by June 1st. Couse was appointed JLL’s new Asia Pacific CEO less than one month ago.

Despite a slowdown in new starts of residential developments, the market for existing commercial real estate assets has continued to grow in recent years, driven by rising rents in the office sector.

2016 could be a good year to sell investment grade properties in China’s first tier cities, with record high prices having been set for prime office assets in recent months.

Core downtown areas in Shanghai and Beijing continue to lease out space as fast as it can be completed, thanks to growing demand from domestic occupiers, and the result has been a boom in en bloc investment transactions.

In July last year Hong Kong’s Link REIT paid a record RMB 79,380 per square metre to acquire the first phase of the ultra-prime Corporate Avenue complex in Shanghai’s Xintiandi area. In Shanghai’s Pudong district, Carlyle Group and CLSA Capital Partners sold an office tower to Hong Kong-listed Yuexiu REIT for RMB 2.63 billion ($423 million) during August.

Shao’s team will include a number of executives also new to JLL this month. Ken Xu, who joined Shao in migrating from CBRE has joined the agency’s investment team as a Local director, and long-time Colliers director Reeve Wang was recruited as a National Director last month. These additions to the senior management team will work with JLL’s existing investment executives in the region, including Regional Director Oscar Chan, logistics specialist Stuart Ross and outbound investment lead Flora Wang.

In addition to his time at CBRE, Shao has previous experience conducting real estate investment transactions at Forterra Trust (then Treasury China Trust) and DTZ.