China Developer Eyes London Investments After U.S. Expansion – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | October 30, 2013

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

• China Developer Eyes London Investments After U.S. Expansion

  Greenland Holding Group Co., the builder of one of China’s tallest towers, plans to invest in London property after expanding in the U.S., Chairman Zhang Yuliang said.

  The state-owned developer will seek projects including hotels, apartments and retail in the European city, Zhang said in an interview in Shanghai today. Greenland is “looking at” three London developments, he said, declining to elaborate because a decision has not been made.

  Greenland, which said this month it will buy a 70 percent stake in New York’s Atlantic Yards, joins other Chinese developers that are entering real estate markets abroad as they see opportunities to diversify outside the home market.

• Beijing Property Tax Creates Divorce Boom

  Beijing’s divorce rate has soared as couples seek to avoid a property tax imposed earlier this year by using a loophole for those whose marriages end.

  Nearly 40,000 couples divorced in the Chinese capital in the first nine months of this year, up 41 per cent on the same period in 2012, the Beijing Youth Daily said on Tuesday, citing official figures.

  In March China introduced a nationwide capital gains tax of 20 per cent on the profits owners make from selling residential property.

  But the terms allow couples with two properties who divorce and put each house into one person’s name to then sell them tax-free under certain conditions – after which they can remarry.

• Greenland Group Plans $957 Million Australia Investment Push

  Shanghai-based developer Greenland Holdings Group plans to invest 1 billion Australian dollars (US$957 million) in real-estate assets in Sydney and Melbourne in the next two years, as part of aggressive global expansion plans.

  Greenland is also interested in casino projects Down Under, said the state-owned conglomerate’s chairman, Zhang Yuliang, who was speaking to reporters at the firm’s headquarters Tuesday.

  Any investment in Australia would depend on its openness to foreign investment and trade, Mr. Zhang said. Australia is home to a large number of international students and mainland Chinese, which helps buoy demand for Greenland’s properties, he said.

• Chinese Investors Take on Distressed U.S. Real Estate

  An unlikely participant increasingly is showing up in the bidding for distressed office buildings, hotels and other overleveraged commercial properties left over from the boom years: Chinese investors.

  While China has made headlines recently for landing trophy properties in Manhattan and for developing new projects in California, Chinese investors also have been pursuing properties that are in default on loans, suffering high vacancy rates or facing other turnaround challenges.

• Savills Says Chinese banks Could Drive London Real Estate Boom

  According to international real estate advisor Savills, Chinese financial institutions are capable of taking over 2 million sq ft of office space over the next decade, which equates to nearly half of the city’s annual average take up. Savills says this could take the city back to similar levels of the bank boom times where the sector accounted for a significantly higher level of take-up than the 2% recorded in the past couple of years.

  The report, written in conjunction with Savills market leading China operation, examines existing financial institutions in China and factors shaping the locational preferences of these occupiers. It finds that property is considered one of the best investment options open to Chinese financial institutions with China Taiping, China Merchants Bank, Ping An, Taikang Life, Bank of China and Bank of Communications being amongst the biggest buyers of office units across Shanghai and Beijing in recent years.

• China Vanke Grabs Largest Stake in Huishang’s IPO

  China Vanke Co., China’s largest property developer by market value, is set to be the single largest shareholder in Huishang Bank Corp. after it signed on as a cornerstone investor in the Chinese lender’s Hong Kong initial public offering.

  Huishang, which will begin taking orders from investors Tuesday, has secured about US$510 million of investment, or about 40% of the total offering, which could be up to US$1.3 billion, from five cornerstone investors, people familiar with the situation said Monday.

• New home sales in Shanghai rise 8%

  SHANGHAI’S new home market extended its strength for another week as buyers and real estate developers continued to be bullish, which saw more than 357,000 square meters of houses sold last week.

  The sales of new homes, excluding government-funded affordable housing, rose 8 percent from the previous week to 357,700 square meters during the seven-day period ended on Sunday, Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co said yesterday in a report. Sales stayed above the 300,000-square-meter threshold for the third straight week.

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

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