New York’s tallest building draws Chinese to city’s priciest homes – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | July 19, 2013

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

• New York’s tallest building draws Chinese buyers to city’s priciest homes

  Apartments in a tower being built on New York’s Park Avenue are likely to appeal to wealthy Chinese investors, who rank second among all overseas buyers of American properties.

  The developers of 432 Park Avenue, CIM Group and Macklowe Properties, plan to visit Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai in the fourth quarter to market the property now rising on the most expensive piece of real estate in the United States. When completed in 2015, the 96-storey building will have a rooftop height of 1,396 feet, edging out the Empire State Building as the tallest building in New York.

• China’s Richest Man to Invest More in Dept Stores

  Zong Qinghou, China’s drinks tycoon and the richest man on the mainland, said he wants to expand his footprint in the department store sector and is considering an initial public offering for his mall business when it becomes full-fledged.

  The 68-year-old billionaire, who ranks 86th on the latest Forbes wealth list with US$11.6 billion in assets, told a press conference in Beijing yesterday that he will focus on introducing foreign brands to the 100 malls he plans to open in China over the next three to five years.

• Property investment risks lower in nation’s top cities says survey

  Shanghai was rated as the most promising city in China for property investment, while some cities in northwestern parts of the country, such as Longnan, Wuwei, Jiuquan and Dingxi in Gansu province, and Erdos in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region dominate the top slots in terms of real estate risks, a report has said.

  Among China’s metropolises, Shanghai scored the highest marks for property investment, followed by Beijing, while Longnan finished at the bottom, a report compiled by China Real Estate Information Corp said on Tuesday.

• Investors look to tier-2 Chinese cities for a better office deal
  

  Foreign funds have returned to the Shanghai real estate market in a big way, running up an unprecedented 12 billion yuan (HK$15 billion) in deals in the first five months of this year.

  Most transactions were in the office sector, which saw its capitalisation rate – or rate of return based on the expected income that the offices will generate – driven to an historical low of 4-4.5 per cent; grade-A office prices have risen more than three times from an average price of 25,000 per square metres a decade ago.

• Strata Sales of Mainland Mall Space Attracting HK Investors

  Small lump-sum prices and hopes of high investment returns continue to lure Hong Kong investors into buying subdivided units at mainland shopping malls, despite their poor record.

  “People are lured into buying as the marketing is attractive,” said Centaline Property Agency chairman Sherman Lai Ming-kai, who cautioned that better-performing and more dependable high-quality commercial properties on the mainland could be expensive and not all were open for sale to Hong Kong buyers.

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