Sun Hung Kai Outbids Wharf to Win $3.6 bln Shanghai Site – Today’s China Real Estate Links | September 6, 2013

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

• Sun Hung Kai Outbids Wharf to Win $3.6 bln Shanghai Site

  Hong Kong’s largest developer, Sun Hung Kai Properties, on Thursday won an auction for a commercial district site in Shanghai worth 21.77 billion yuan ($3.6 billion).

  Hong Kong developers are increasing investments in mainland China to offset thinning margins at home as a series of government tightening measures take a toll.

  Sun Hung Kai Properties outbid Hong Kong developer The Wharf Holdings to build offices, restaurants and a hotel in Shanghai’s Xujiahui district, a popular shopping and entertainment hub in China’s financial centre about 30 minutes by car from downtown Shanghai.

• Sunac Buys Beijing Plot for Record Price – Says “What Cooling Measures?”

  China sold a residential land parcel in Beijing at a record price amid rising competition among developers for sites in major cities, which have led price gains even as the government maintains property curbs.

  The 28,100 -square-meter (302,356-square-foot) National Agriculture Exhibition Center plot, northeast of the city center, was sold for 2.1 billion yuan ($343 million) to Sunac China Holdings Ltd. (1918) yesterday, according to a statement on the local land reserve center’s website. Sunac’s bid included a commitment to build a 278,000-square-meter hospital at another site, according to the statement.

• Greenland Group in Talks to Buy Landmark Site in Melbourne

  CHINA’S largest developer Greenland Group has held talks to buy a site in Melbourne near Flemington Racecourse from the Victoria Racing Club for one of its city-defining towers.

  The Shanghai-based, state-owned property developer has laid out aggressive expansion plans in Australia and last month won conditional approval to build Sydney’s tallest apartment tower on the Water Board site.

  Greenland head Sherwood Luo has returned to China after a recent visit to Sydney but is due back later this month as Greenland steps up its operations.

  The massive Chinese group was little known when it picked up its first Australian project in the Sydney CBD from Canadian giant Brookfield Asset Management for about $107.5 million

• Century Bridge Adds $32.8 Million Hangzhou Investment to China Portfolio

  Century Bridge Capital announced today that it has invested $32.8 million in a joint venture with Zhejiang Headway Real Estate for the development of a middle-income, residential project in Hangzhou, China, the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. The project will comprise 321,119 square meters and is located in New Lingping City in a well-developed district in northeast Hangzhou. Funding for the investment was provided by Century Bridge China Real Estate Fund, L.P. The investment follows on Century Bridge’s recent announcement of its $44.4 million investment in a joint venture for the development of a 162,030 square meter residential project in Wuhan, China.

• Chinese investments in the UK top £8bn this year

  Chinese business interests have invested more than £8 billion (US$12.4 billion) in the UK alone this year, reports Shanghai’s First Financial Daily. The investments ranged from infrastructure to real-estate and retail businesses. The large volume of money has led some media outlets in the UK to quip that investors are trying to buy the country outright.

  A British official told the News that about 130 Chinese firms had discussed collaborative projects in London over the past few years.

  The British government announced some time ago that the London Olympics created nearly £10 billion (US$15.6 billion) in economic value in 2012. Of this figure, Chinese investment accounted for 20%, topping investments from other countries.

• Mapletree Raises US$1.4b for China Real Estate Fund

  Mapletree Investments, an Asia-focused real estate company, has raised US$1.4 billion for its private real estate fund, Mapletree China Opportunity Fund II.

  This was above the initial target of US$1 billion.

  The fund is one of the largest China-focused private equity real estate funds raised to-date.

  Seeded by two mixed-use development projects, the fund raiser was closed within 10 months after its marketing launch in October last year, and just two months after its first closing at the end of June this year for US$1.1 billion.

  This is the second China-focused fund sponsored by Mapletree, and a follow-on investment vehicle to its US$1.2 billion Mapletree India China Fund (MIC Fund).

• Rich Chinese Love Stanford – Buy Palo Alto Homes

  Mei Wu spent several weekends this summer checking out Palo Alto properties, but so far she hasn’t located her dream home.

  Wu (who preferred not to use her real name) grew up in Beijing, but moved to Hong Kong two and a half years ago. She says an equivalent 3,000-square-foot house in Hong Kong would sell for $20 million (U.S.), compared to the $3 to $4 million in Palo Alto. That is, if one could even find a house in condo-rich Hong Kong.

  Wu, a Chinese citizen, is looking for a vacation home in Palo Alto — preferably Old Palo Alto, Crescent Park or Community Center. And, she likes that “it’s a university town, it’s lively,” it has temperate weather and access to good medical care.

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

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