John Travolta Joins Qingdao Event with China Developer Wang Jianlin – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | September 23, 2013

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

• John Travolta Joins Qingdao Event with China Developer Wang Jianlin

  China’s richest man, billionaire Wang Jianlin, made most of his fortune over the course of two decades in the real estate business. The presence of a flock of Hollywood heavyweights including Leonardo DiCaprio and John Travolta at the unveiling of a $8 billion investment project in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao today underscores how Wang is making big waves in the global movie and entertainment business in a much shorter time.

  Wang’s Dalian Wanda Group, which attracted international headlines last year with the purchase of AMC movie theater chain in the U.S for $2.6 billion, announced plans today to invest 50 billion yuan, or $8.3 billion, in a film and television production complex called the Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis. The cost makes the project the largest investment of project of its kind, Wanda said.

• China Insurance Firms Exposed for Spending Public Funds on Real Estate Deals

  Insurance companies in China are being questioned by the public after being exposed as profiting from taxpayer-funded subsidies for wealthy retired people.

  This follows news that insurance firm Taikang Life recently began negotiating with local governments for land purchases, with plans to build 15 retirement communities within three years.

• How to Buy a Holiday Home Near China’s Great Wall

  The village of Beigou sits in a valley in the shadow of the Great Wall of China. Chickens roam free, children play in the square and elderly villagers use the outdoor exercise machines. Many locals still make a living harvesting pear and apricot trees, and many still live in squat stone courtyard farmhouses with low-hanging eaves, designed to stay warm in the sub-zero winters and cool in the roasting summers. But hidden in the foliage up the winding hilly paths is a scattering of more opulent homes.

  Beigou and neighbouring Mutianyu village are tourist hotspots known as gateways to the Great Wall (Mutianyu contains a cable car which scales the Wall and a toboggan slide back down).

• Australian Visa Program Driving Real Estate Sales to Chinese

  AUSTRALIAN property groups are tapping into the surge of interest from Chinese investors as immigration advisers capitalise on rising international confidence in the local market after the federal election.

  Wealthy individuals with at least $5 million to invest are being drawn in by the Significant Investor visa program and numbers are picking up as agents promote the scheme across China.

• China’s October Holiday Expected Drive Surge in US Home Buying

  Many wealthy Chinese individuals are expected to visit the United States with a view to buying property during China’s upcoming “Golden Week” National Day holidays beginning Oct. 1, according to Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po.

  US realtors are apt to drop everything and clear their schedule if a Chinese client turns up wanting to view properties, the report said, knowing their propensity for making swift decisions to buy and often paying in full, often in cash.

• China’s Surplus Men Driving Real Estate Prices in Many Cities

  An article on Quartz looks at how the one-child policy, and accompanying gender imbalance, is impacting the real estate market in China, and may contribute to its collapse. As the numbers of single men in China rise, the competition for real estate – a key factor in determining marriageability – heats up as well:

  China’s gender imbalance contributed 30% to 48% (pdf, p.37) of the rise in real home prices in 35 major cities from 2003 to 2009, according to research Zhang and two colleagues conducted. Home values rose more sharply in cities with many more young men than young women.

• Reverse Mortgage Financing for Retirement Homes Clarified

  The Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) announced on Friday that a pilot program allowing the elderly to pay nursing home expenses by mortgaging their homes is “just one approach” being considered in its plan to improve aged care.

  The reverse mortgage model, which allows the elderly use their homes as collateral for bank loans to pay nursing home costs, aims to diversify solutions for elderly people struggling to meet care costs, the MCA said in a statement on its website.

  Another proposal is for nursing homes to be sponsored by local communities, the ministry said.

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

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