Follow the Debate - China Real Estate June 2011
China Real Estate
The expansion of these gigantic cities has been fast, disruptive and unprecedented in world history. It has also been accompanied by rapid price increases. But they have occurred primarily in the first-tier cities. Markets cannot easily price what they have never witnessed before.
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China Daily 30/6/2011
Shanghai unveils plan for 7 new satellite cities
SHANGHAI - As the key goal in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) for Shanghai, the city will focus on the urban planning of suburbs in seven new satellite cities and on developing links with neighboring cities in the Yangtze River Delta.
The Wall Street Journal 29/6/2011
Video: China Risks Property-Bubble Burst
Chinese real-estate prices are declining, which has investors asking whether the country’s economy is over-leveraged. Could China’s real-estate bubble burst in coming years–and, if it does, how might that affect other countries? Listen to veteran WSJ macroeconomic reporter Bob Davis break it down.
China Daily 29/6/2011
Beijing to develop 42 new suburban towns
Beijing - The capital is to raise 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion) during the next decade to tap the diverse potential of 42 underdeveloped suburban towns, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.
Caixin Online 28/6/2011
A Fringe of Foam on Foreign Shores
China's real estate investment cups have runneth over – and domestic buyers have gone abroad on a strong yuan and favorable lending conditions – but has the investment bubble followed them?
In late May of this year, more than 400 people lined up to purchase apartments at a site in New Westminster City, a suburb of Vancouver. Within two and half hours of the start of the sale, all 153 units had been sold.
XinHua News 27/6/2011
Chinese developers shun construction of affordable housing
BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Most Chinese real estate developers kept their distance from repeated appeals by officials to accelerate the country's affordable housing construction that aim to rein in the runaway property market, according to a report released Sunday.
China Daily 27/6/2011
Demolitions cause most social unrest
Demolitions caused the most social conflict and public discontent in Chinese society in 2010, according to a recent report published by a Beijing-based social research center.
The Wall Street Journal 24/6/2011
Little Shelter for China in Affordable Housing
For investors worried about a China real-estate crash laying waste to their portfolios, affordable housing will provide some basic shelter.
The Wall Street Journal 23/6/2011
The Great Property Bubble of China May Be Popping
BEIJING—After years of housing prices gone wild, China's property bubble is starting to deflate.
People's Daily 23/6/2011
Record realty prices head to lower-tier cities
Property prices in a number of coastal cities are rising faster than those in large cities as investors with deep pockets look to second- and third-tier cities amid tightening measures to cool the market.
China Daily 22/6/2011
Capital considers easing hukou rules
BEIJING - Officials will explore additional ways for talented people from outside the capital to acquire the city's hukou (permanent residency permit), as long as the applicants accumulate enough grading points, according to a proposal passed on Monday by the city's political advisers.
The grading system may be based on criteria such as the applicant's contributions in scientific or technological research, professional skills and how long he or she has lived in Beijing, according to the proposal by the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Applicants will be given the hukou if they reach the standards.
"This system will be more objective, measurable, transparent and open for talented people to gain hukou," said Lu Jiehua, a sociology professor with Peking University, who is also a member of the CPPCC Beijing committee.
China Daily 21/6/2011
China's rich swoop on homes overseas
BEIJING - An increasing number of China's rich are snapping up properties overseas in the expectation that domestic inflation will continue to rise after the consumer price index reached a 34-month high in May.
According to Colliers International, a real estate service provider, the proportion of Chinese buyers in Vancouver's property market is on the rise. At the end of the first quarter this year, it increased to 29 percent of all homebuyers.
In the past six months, Chinese spent 1.3 billion yuan ($200 million) through Colliers' international property department, with Canada, the UK and Australia topping the buying list.
People's Daily 18/6/2011
City dwellers find prices unaffordable, PBOC says
More than two-thirds of urban residents said prices were unaffordably high in the second quarter, according to survey results released by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) on Wednesday.
Caixin Online 17/6/2011
Economists Expect a Slow Hoist of Interest Rates
While some economists said the effects of monetary tightening policies were slowly taking effect, most predicted growing inflationary pressures would have a large impact on interest rate policies
Economists surveyed by Caixin said they expect the Chinese government will continue to tighten monetary policies in aim to rein in inflation after key economic data released on June 14.
People's Daily 17/6/2011
China has 657 cities at all levels
BEIJING - After a series of administrative changes to urban divisions last year, China currently has 657 cities at all levels, said a report released by the country's Ministry of Civil Affairs Thursday.
Chinese cities across China largely fall into three levels: province-level cities, also known as municipalities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, prefectural cities and county-level ones.
The minimum population density for a county to be upgraded to a city in China is 100 people per square kilometer. However, the government considers other factors, such as gross domestic product, before defining an urban area as a city.
23% of foreign investment went into property
BEIJING -- A total of 23 percent of foreign investment in China went into the real estate sector last year, the country's foreign exchange regulator said on Thursday.
Caixin Online 16/6/2011
Foreign Firms to Join Beijing CBD Property Feast
A compromise has been reached to raise the base prices for these sites slightly, but higher bidders will gain few extra points in the assessment results, said a source close to the situation.
(Beijing) -- Foreign companies are likely to win bids for premium sites for commercial development in Beijing's central business district, according to a source close to the city government, adding that it intends to foster the growth of international settings.
The Wall Street Journal 14/6/2011
Hong Kong Lowers Ceiling on Property Loans
Hong Kong’s de facto central bank tightened mortgage lending again Friday and for the first time toughened lending standards for nonlocals, as it works to tame a property boom fueled in part by demand from mainland China.
XinHua News 13/6/2011
China's new bank lending shrinks to 551.6 billion yuan in May
BEIJING, June 13 (Xinhua) -- China's new bank lending, an important indicator of the monetary policy, shrank to 551.6 billion yuan (84.86 billion U.S. dollars) in May from April's 739.6 billion yuan, the People's Bank of China said on Monday.
The figure was also 100.5 billion yuan less than that of last May, the central bank said.
See Kaixin's - ECONOMIC CHINA
China's vice premier urges building and fairly granting quality affordable housing
SHIJIAZHUANG, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang has called upon local authorities to step up efforts to build and fairly distribute high-quality affordable housing.
"Building affordable housing is a major program to both improve the people's living standards and promote development," Li told senior provincial officials at a meeting in Shijiazhuang, capital city of north China's Hebei Province, on Saturday.
China Daily 11/6/2011
Shenzhen to collect home-sales tax
Shenzhen will impose a transaction tax on existing home sales based on a reference price determined by market conditions, the city's taxation administration said in a statement on its website.
The measure will be implemented if the contract prices of the homes are too low without reasonable explanation, the statement said. The measure will begin on July 11.
The Wall Street Journal 11/6/2011
China's Affordable-Housing Push Hits Delays
BEIJING—China's government acknowledged that it was falling behind schedule on its ambitious plans to build tens of millions of units of low-income housing over the next five years as way to help ordinary Chinese buy homes and to cushion any downturn in the property market.
The Wall Street Journal 10/6/2011
The Great Property Bubble of China May Be Popping
BEIJING—After years of housing prices gone wild, China's property bubble is starting to deflate
Residential prices are heading downward in some major cities, damping some undesired real-estate speculation but raising the prospect that the Chinese economy may slow more rapidly than anticipated with profound consequences for global growth.
See Kaixin's - CHINA REAL ESTATE
China Drags Feet on Affordable Housing
Despite issuing stern warnings in countless meetings and through official newspaper editorials, China’s central government appears unable to get local governments to act on long-standing orders to build affordable housing.
A Taxonomy of China Housing Market Bad Guys
Who is to blame for the woes of China’s would be home buyers? With prices still sky high despite a year of controls by the government, it is time to start pointing the finger.
People's Daily 9/6/2011
No sign of let up in China's skyscraper building spree
Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen have the most skyscrapers in the country, according to the first China's skyscraper report released by www.motiancity.com.
Hong Kong has 58 skyscrapers, followed by Shanghai's 51 and Shenzhen's 46. Beijing was ninth place with 13 high-rises.
China has been on a building spree of modern skyscrapers. Five of the world's top 10 tallest buildings are in China. Apart from the tallest 828-meter-high Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the second tallest, the third, the fourth, the seventh and ninth are in Taipei, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Nanjing and Guangzhou.
XinHua News 9/6/2011
China carefully defines functions of regions to sustain development
BEIJING, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The nation's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said Wednesday that the central government has carefully defined the functions of regions at local levels with differentiated policies to sustain the country's development.
Xu Xianping, vice minister of NDRC, said at a press conference that local governments must optimize, accelerate, restrict or prohibit industrial development in different regions according to the defined nature.
According to NDRC's function-dividing plan, economic development must be optimized in the regions of the Bohai Rim, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, where gross domestic product (GDP) accounts for about 40 percent of China's total.
Priorities are given to development in 18 zones in central and western China, where resources are rich and the environmental capacity is good for further urbanization.
China's central bank rebuts report of "canceling home purchase limit"
BEIJING, June 8 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank on Wednesday said the media report that some "central bank researcher" forecast the cancellation of the home purchase limit within two years was factually incorrect.
China Daily 9/6/2011
HK tops skyscraper rankings
In the first ever Chinese City Skyscraper Rankings, released on Monday in Shanghai, Hong Kong topped the list with its 58 skyscrapers, and Shanghai got second with 51 skyscrapers, the Oriental Morning Post reported Tuesday.
People walk near the World Financial Center and Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai
Caixin Online 9/6/2011
Grubby Land Grab
Local officials in a county near Beijing used threats and forged documents to cheat farmers and benefit developers
It's become an old story in modern China: Local government officials get rich quick by ignoring property laws and grabbing land rights from hapless farmers. The shenanigans go unpunished and perhaps unnoticed beyond the borders of the village, district or county they're supposed to serve.
XinHua News 7/6/2011
China to renovate 2.65 mln rural dilapidated houses
BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- China plans to renovate 2.65 million dilapidated houses for poor rural households in the central and western regions this year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) said Monday.
The government will first renovate 200,000 houses of poor farmers living along the country's borders, said the MOHURD.
Also, 90,000 dilapidated houses will be renovated into energy-efficient housing units in northeast, northwest and north China and Tibet Autonomous Region as well, it added.
See Kaixin's - CHINA REAL ESTATE & GREEN CHINA
China's Xinjiang to invest 7.7 bln USD in poverty alleviation in 2011-15
URUMQI, June 6 (Xinhua) -- China's far western Xinjiang region will earmark 50 billion yuan (7.7 billion U.S. dollars) for poverty alleviation in the next five years, a local official said Monday.
Zhao Guoming, head of the regional poverty relief office, said 60 percent of the fund will be used on supporting distinctive industries and the rest on improving housing conditions in rural areas.
People's Daily 7/6/2011
Housing projects proceed too slow for govt
China will find it difficult to achieve its goal of building 10 million government-subsidized residences this year since most of the planned projects have not started yet, analysts said.
Caixin Online 7/6/2011
Nationwide Housing Sales Up in May
Land transactions increased by an average of 6 percent in 129 cities, according to a survey by the China Index Academy
(Beijing) – Both supply and demand in the residential land market increased in May after a lull from tougher regulations on the property market, according to a Beijing-based research center.
Caixin Online 2/6/2011
Beijing Home Sales to Hit 28-Month Low in May
The slump in existing home sales is expected to continue on expanding new housing inventory and recently-tightened property regulations
(Beijing) -- Pre-owned home transactions are expected to fall for the third straight month in May, as buyers adopted a wait-and-see attitude before a substantial fall in prices.
Caixin Online 1/6/2011
Beyond a Buyer's Market, Renting Makes Sense
By promoting a rental market and protecting tenants, China can provide more adequate, affordable housing
April housing data from the National Bureau of Statistics not only failed to clear up doubts but added to confusion over where property prices in China may be headed, and whether government market controls are working.
Two things are certain: Market watchers expect prices to remain elevated, and housing demand remains strong.
Analyst: Home Prices to Fall, Gov't Bailout Unlikely
Nie Meisheng, chairwoman of the China Real Estate Chamber of Commerce, said property prices are expected to fall on increasingly tightened policies
(Beijing) -- Property prices are expected to fall by 10 percent as the government will not rush to bail out the market amid inflationary pressures, said Nie Meisheng, chairwoman of the China Real Estate Chamber of Commerce in a forum here on May 29.
The Wall Street Journal 1/6/2011
Chinese Fuel Vancouver Home Boom
A fresh wave of Chinese buyers, coupled with Canada's already frothy home prices, has vaulted Vancouver into the ranks of the world's most unaffordable real-estate markets.
China Daily 1/6/2011
Insurers to add realty investments
The rise comes after revisions to the insurance laws get green light
BEIJING - Around 78 billion yuan ($12 billion) of insurance capital is expected to enter Beijing's "economically affordable" housing market, marking further investment in the property market.
Seven insurance asset management companies, led by China Pacific Insurance Assets Management Co, will raise the sum to fuel development of the construction of low-cost housing in the capital through a debt-financing plan and take land under the control of the Beijing Land Reserve Center as a mortgage, according to sources from the center on Tuesday
China Themes
Yuan Revaluation & Internationalisation
Graeme has been using ChinesePod since 2007
"I highly recommend ChinesePod, I haven't found any Online teaching programmes that come close."
Set in Zanzibar in 1910, it is the story of two people from different worlds falling in love. Susan immerses herself in Zanzibar. Asim falls in love with this woman from the nation that killed his wife. Susan is a spy. Asim is the chief advisor to the Sultan of Zanzibar. Germany and France are holding secret negotiations to form a Pan European alliance, which would isolate Britain and destroy her power. Susan and Asim are caught up in all this and their love is finally dashed on the cold, hard reality of international high politics.
Available on Amazon's Kindle $4.99 - Over 400 Pages
Chapter One
Zanzibar
'A maharaja’s ruby cast on a Persian carpet by the blackest of hands'
Their souls danced, honouring his promise.
The ancient dhow stirred in the soft morning breeze. Like a sleepy lion, it began to move through the water, snuffling about the other boats on the harbour; some scurrying, some at anchor, some darting before a brief gust of wind. The lateen sails a bustling panorama of blood-red and sun-bleached white.
Aft, the woman's eyes searched the skyline, drinking in the architecture of Stone Town, the heart of Zanzibar; its jagged, cluttered silhouette so familiar, so much a part of her soul.
Abruptly, her eyes ceased their restless searching, jagged by an invisible hook, transfixed by the grand buildings on the northern shore, Beit-al-Ajaib, the House of Wonders, Palace to the great Sultan of Zanzibar. The distinctive architecture captured in the tropical light: coconut white outlined by contrasting shadow plays of pepper black.
A smile, ever so slight, started to play on the edge of her mouth then disappeared. A memory that should have been fond instantly turned to sharp unbearable pain. Her eyes hardened and moved on.
Without warning the captain threw the rudder over. Stumbling, the woman barked her shin on a wooden box, a rough-hewn coffin. She recoiled, knocking over an untidy stack of cane baskets. Imprisoned in the baskets, rusty cockerels, their scruffy heads straining through the latticework, snapped at her, cried out to her; their raucous din overwhelming her, drowning her.
Dimly, through the fog of noise, the strident swearing of the sailors in Kiswahili seeped into her conscious. Understanding, she smiled mirthlessly.
The coffin had been carelessly stowed, a chore, rather than a labour of respect or love.
London 1910
“Hello, who are you? I am Oliver, is Edward at home?”
The words were spoken by a tall, impeccably dressed young man as he rushed into Edward’s flat shaking off surplus water and calling for whisky while shoving his umbrella into a stand. It was a blustery, grey, bitterly cold February afternoon in the heart of London. He brushed a curl of soft auburn hair from his forehead and smiled charmingly.
Susan laughed, her hazel eyes dancing with the exhilaration of the new. “Yes, he is having a bath. I think he is trying to get warm. I’m Susan, Susan Carey, his sister.”
“Ahhh yes, from Australia. How do you do?” said Sir Oliver, smiling broadly and offering his hand. He noticed the laughter in her eyes, and the depth, particularly the depth, intensified by jade flecks that made them striking and alluring. “So, you have arrived, good trip I trust.”
“I am very well thank you, and yes, it was a good trip,” replied Susan.
He laughed and glanced at the sitting room, “whisky?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, please come in…….. that was silly of me, after all, it is your flat.”
Oliver smiled and gestured for Susan to lead the way. He followed her into the room, and after helping himself to a generous portion of whisky, walked over to the fire.
Shortly after, Edward, wrapped in a huge ruby-coloured dressing gown and wiping soap from his ear strode into the room. He was of similar age to Oliver, late twenties, well built, if slightly podgy, with dark auburn hair and a full moustache. Susan looked up and smiled to herself, she could see now where he had picked up some of his new mannerisms.
“Thought I could hear voices. I see you two have met, no need for introductions then.”
As he was speaking, Edward walked to the side table and grabbed a whisky decanter by the neck. He glanced at Oliver who nodded. A long finger snaked into one of the tumblers followed by the distinctive clink of crystal. He swept the decanter off the table and carried it to where Oliver was sitting. After pouring the whisky, he sank into a lounge chair and sipped from his glass, enjoying the warm glow as it spread through his body.
Suddenly he sat up exclaiming, “Sorry sis, would you like something to drink?”
“Kind of you to remember, but no thank you, and yes, Oliver has already inquired.”
Edward nodded and sank back into his lounge chair.
They chatted, tentatively at first, getting to know one another. Edward had not seen Susan for two years and was unsure how his sister would take his new relationship. Oliver was intrigued by Susan. An attractive, self-assured young lady of high intelligence with a degree was a rare find. And, as fate would have it, she was also a trained and experienced teacher. He suggested a picnic at Oxford, which was met with ready acquiescence. Arrangements were made for the following Sunday.
“I’ll see if the Rolls is available,” mused Oliver. “Must ring father, haven’t spoken to him in ages.”
Oliver, Sir Oliver Marchmaine, was an unaffected young man of intense intelligence who saw life as a great adventure to be lived to the full. He was also unyieldingly loyal to his country, England, which is why he had joined Military Intelligence on leaving Oxford.
It was 1910 and Europe was stirring. It was a time full of interest, intrigue and danger. The European chessboard was becoming increasingly complex, the moves more subtle. A time when an unexpected move or feint could have profound consequences.
Regaining her balance, the woman’s eyes were drawn, hesitantly at first, resisting back to Beit-al-Ajaib. She wondered if it was still the same. Still the same centre of power and intrigue that had been so much a part of her life all those years before; that had defined her life.
She remembered those first few moments, remembered standing in the foyer of the palace, .………… remembered the breathtakingly beautiful Persian tapestry ........
The sea breeze stirred her clothes. She smiled a little sadly, and in her mind the tapestry gently swayed. Two small apparitions ran giggling up the stairs: two small exquisitely rich burkas disappearing along the first floor landing. Childish squeals of mischief and joy left in the air.......
“Move to seaward, you accused of Allah! Move!”
Her thoughts were clawed back to the dhow, the captain crashing the tiller over to avoid another boat on the crowded harbour. The woman instinctively ducked her head to avoid the heavy boom as it swung over her, the rusty cockerels squawked their raucous indignation, their heads straining through the latticework, relentless.
The collision avoided, the dhow continued on its way. The cacophony dying down to the occasional command by the captain or the cry of a seagull.
The woman's thoughts returned to Beit-al-Ajaib
…………. laughing and giggling, girls of seven or eight. A door on the first floor slammed and all sounds of them disappeared. Silence. The woman smiled. She could see herself, a young woman, dressed plainly, unselfconsciously, her sexuality tantalisingly just out of reach, hidden beneath the thin veil of her clothing. She remembered standing alone in the foyer, looking around, perplexed. Asim came through a door to the left of the tapestry.
“Salaam.”
The woman started and looked around. Then, realising, was cold again. Alone again. Alone, rocking to and fro to the rythm of the sea. Alone, beside a rough-hewn coffin.
Now Available on Amazon's Kindle $4.99 - Over 400 Pages
Graeme has been using ChinesePod since 2007
"I highly recommend ChinesePod, I haven't found any Online teaching programmes that come close."
