Shanghai Real Estate Investment Up 19 Percent in 1st Half of 2013 – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | July 5, 2013

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

• Shanghai Real Estate Investment Up 19 Percent in 1st Half of 2013

  Major real estate investments in Shanghai rose nearly 19 percent in the first half of this year, with overseas buyers sealing more than 60 percent of the deals, a global real estate services firm said yesterday.

  Between January and June, 15.2 billion yuan ($2.46 billion) of property acquisitions worth more than US$10 million each were sealed in the city, up 18.7 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to DTZ, a division of UGL Ltd.

• Poly Real Estate’s Sales Grew 26.5 Percent in 1st Half of 2013

  Poly Real Estate Group, one of the largest property developers in China, achieved sales of 63.6 billion yuan ($10.3 billion) in the first half of this year, according to the company’s public statement.

  This represents 26.5 percent growth compared to the same period last year.

• China home prices rise despite restrictive policies

  China’s real estate sector, the pre-eminent driver of the country’s growth, is in recovery mode, according to economists at Standard Chartered. But instead of being a piece of good news amid signs of slowing economic growth, the rebound in home prices underlines the dilemma Beijing faces: keeping the property market under control while sustaining growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

  China stepped up a three-year campaign to cool home prices in March. The government strengthened its efforts by raising down-payment and mortgage requirements. It also levied a first-ever property tax in Shanghai and Chongqing and enacted purchase restrictions in about 40 cities.

• China Daily Says China’s Home Ownership List Blocked by Officials

  China may have delayed releasing a national database detailing home ownership because officials didn’t want their real estate holdings exposed, the China Daily newspaper said in an editorial today.

  The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development must finish the database that it had promised to introduce at the end of June, the editorial said. It will detail home-ownership in 500 cities, according to the newspaper.

• Convertible RMB Free Trade Zone Set for Shanghai

  China has formally approved the establishment of a free trade zone that will trial yuan convertibility in Shanghai, the official China Daily reported on Thursday.State media had reported in early June that approval of the zone was imminent, but details were scarce on the precise nature of the policy initiatives being contemplated.

• Developers defy curbs in land rush

  Mainland developers have been bidding aggressively for Beijing and Shanghai plots in direct defiance of government curbs as they anticipate further property market growth.Shenzhen-based China Vanke purchased a plot in Shanghai’s Pudong district at auction for 4.87 billion yuan (HK$6.16 billion), nearly 89 percent above the base price.The final tag was arrived at after 323 price calls yesterday, a record for the city.

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