China first-tier cities’ land prices surge 350% – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | June 5, 2013

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

• China first-tier cities’ land prices surge 350%

  Chinese first-tier cities’ land-sale prices in the first five months soared to 4.5 times that of the same period of last year.

  According to Centaline, a national property brokerage, land transfer fees owned by governments of China’s four first-tier cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen — in the first five months of this year hit 141.18 billion yuan ($23.02 billion). The figure last year was just 31.44 billion yuan.

  In the past week, “land kings”, or developers buying land at record high prices, have emerged frequently in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

• Beijing Caps Home Prices to Control Demand: Mortgages

  Beijing, which already has China’s strictest real estate curbs, is being forced to take additional steps to contain surging home prices as demands for record-high down payments fail to deter buyers.

  The city has enforced citywide price caps since March by withholding presale permits for any new project asking selling prices authorities deem too high, according to developer Sunac China Holdings Ltd. (1918) and realtor Centaline Group. Local officials will need further tightening as they struggle to meet this year’s target of keeping prices unchanged from last year, said Bacic & 5i5j Group, the city’s second-biggest property broker.

• Demand for office space to rise in Asia this year, Knight Frank says

  Asian economic growth is expected to increase demand for office space this year, according to major independent global property consultancy Knight Frank.
  An increasingly regionally connected Chinese economy and the knock-on effects from Japanese stimulus measures are likely to boost activity across the region, with domestic occupiers leading demand for prime office space.

  The Knight Frank Asia-Pacific Prime Office Index rose for the 12th straight quarter, increasing 1.7 per cent last quarter and 5.6 per cent over the last 12 months. Fifteen of the 19 prime office markets tracked saw prime rents increase last quarter. Rents are expected to soften in only three of the 19 markets monitored over the next 12 months.

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