Softer office markets cloud China property outlook – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | August 22, 2013

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

• Softer office markets cloud China property outlook

  Commercial property developers Soho China and Franshion Properties (China) posted robust half-year results yesterday, but their major office markets in Beijing and Shanghai are expected to soften as the mainland’s economic growth slows further.

  Soho, the largest developer of offices in those cities, said underlying profit, excluding property revaluation gains, surged 130 per cent to 537 million yuan (HK$680 million) year on year on strong property sales.

• Elaborate temple is China’s newest bizarre rooftop structure

  In the latest case of illegal rooftop constructions making the news in China, a Shenzhen homeowner has built an elaborate temple on top of a high-rise apartment building.

  The temple, located on the roof of the Meijia Square housing complex in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district, first came to national attention after a Sina Weibo microblogger posted a description of it  After travelling to the Meijia Square, reporters from Chinese news agencies, including Yangcheng Evening News and Shenzhen News, confirmed the structure’s existence and temple-like appearance.

  According to reports, the temple was surrounded by shrubbery and had ornate dragon and phoenix sculptures carved in its exterior. It was blocked off from general access by a door with a fingerprint combination lock.

• Soho China Sees Oversupply in Second-Tier Cities’ Office Markets

  China’s second-tier cities have an oversupply of offices as companies halt expansion amid a slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy, according to one of the country’s biggest commercial builders.

  “There are a lot of empty buildings,” Zhang Xin, chief executive officer of Soho China Ltd. (410), said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today. “Concentrating in cities like Beijing and Shanghai is less risky, but when we go to second and third cities the demand instantly reduces.”

• China banks cutting loans for homes in small cities

  China’s banks have reduced lending to property projects in smaller Chinese cities due to concerns about an excess supply of homes in those areas, the chief economist at a state think-tank said on Wednesday.

  Fan Jianping of the State Information Centre said third- and fourth-tier Chinese cities are sitting on a large inventory of unsold commercial homes following big land sales by local authorities in recent years.

• Singapore’s Ascott expands in China with deals in emerging cities

  Singapore-based CapitaLand serviced residence unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott) has secured contracts to manage three more properties in China, according to a company statement.

  The properties include the 250-unit Somerset Swan Lake Hefei, which is scheduled to open in 2017. It’s the company’s first vesture in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui Province in east China. The other two properties are the 150-unit Ascott Nanbin Chongqing and 167-unit Somerset Software Park Xiamen, which are both slated to open in 2015.”

• Real Estate Developer Soho China Says 1st-Half Profit Soared

  Soho China, the Beijing-based real estate developer led by billionaire couple Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin, said first-half profit soared by 242% from a year earlier to 2.1 billion yuan, or $350 million.

  Turnover doubled to 2.5 billion yuan in part on the successful leasing of prime office buildings in Beijing and Shanghai, following a switch in its business strategy from “build to sell” to “build to hold” in August 2012. Among its successful projects, the office space in Soho Century Plaza, located in Shanghai’s financial district in Pudong, is 100% leased, the company said. Tenants include the Shanghai Futures Exchange and Everbright Futures, among other financial firms.

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