JLL Predicts Record Number of New Malls in China – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | July 10, 2013

Here is a list of the day’s latest China real estate news collected from around the web:

• JLL Predicts Record Number of New Malls in China

  Retail sales slowed in China in late 2012 and early 2013, due to weaker consumer sentiment. In late 2012, only the top two or three of Shanghai and Beijing’s department stores were still reporting positive sales growth; the rest were negative. However, Jones Lang LaSalle’s industry experts are predicting healthier growth in the second half of 2013.

  Eugene Tang, Regional Director and Head of Retail, Shanghai and Greater China, Jones Lang LaSalle comments, “The retail slowdown in 2012 was a wake-up call. Retailers will now be more cautious, analyse individual Chinese markets more carefully and follow a bottom-line driven strategy rather than investing in brand exposure. The result should be healthier growth in the second half of 2013 and 2014.”

• Chinese Real-Estate Corporate Bonds Continue Slide

  Chinese real-estate corporate bond prices have fallen for eight straight weeks, stung by a one-two punch of investors fleeing emerging-market debt and worries over China’s real-estate market. The selloff is the worst since the peak of the global financial crisis.

  This marks a sharp reversal of fortunes for the bonds, which had been popular earlier in the year because of their high yields. While home prices in China are still rising, the outlook has darkened, as a severe cash squeeze last month in the banking system means home buyers’ borrowing costs may rise and hurt the outlook for property sales and developers’ ability to repay debt in coming years.

• Nanjing Kills Land Sale to Developer Over Residents’ Protests

  The land resources authority in Nanjing, East China’s Jiangsu Province, said it would “cease the selling process” of a key piece of land to a local developer, which analysts said Monday indicates the local government’s quandary in balancing property developers’ interests with the rights of so-called “nail households,” or small property owners who refuse to sell to make way for larger developments.

  Nanjing’s Bureau of Land Resources announced on its website Friday that the purchase was halted for “particular reasons,” without specifying further.

• Chinese Buyers Flood U.S. Housing Market

  Flush with cash, Chinese homebuyers are flooding into the U.S. housing market, and paying top dollar.

  “The Chinese came out really huge in the past year,” said Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel, a New York-based appraiser. Chinese buyers accounted for 18 percent of the $68.2 billion that foreigners spent on homes during the 12 months ended March 31, according to the National Association of Realtors.

This list is updated daily, so tune in again tomorrow for more up to date information.