Real Estate Wrap-up: CBD's Up And Coming Sites

As a young man, Stephen Yang came to Beijing from a small town in Anhui Province for his studies. After working in the real estate industry after graduation, Yang slowly began to fall in love with the city and the industry, and completed a number of successful transactions ranging from residential to office and retail property leasing and investment for both wholly owned foreign enterprises and individuals. Agenda broke ground with Yang to learn more about the future of the market and his favorite area: the CBD.

Tell us a little bit about your favorite area.
The Central Business District (CBD), the region surrounding the World Trade Towers, is an international business area that has a number of high density office, residential and retail properties. The neighborhood is the preferred location for many Fortune 500 companies, as well as several local companies. The most predominant landmarks include the China Central Television (CCTV) and China World towers, Yintai Centre, The Place and China World shopping mall. The area includes businesses from a number of areas such as finance, public relations, media and entertainment. Nevertheless, the CBD is not only known for its prominent business environment, but also for the high quality residential options and entertainment venues.

How have prices changed in this area? Where do you see the pricing trends going?
Residential rentals in the CBD have increased around 15-20% over the past year, while purchasing prices have remained stable. This is mostly due to regulations that have placed some restrictions on housing investment, thus increasing the demand. Office rentals have also increased over the past year at a rate of 20-30%. Purchasing prices for office space have increased slightly.

What are the hottest properties in this area?
In the CBD, Fortune Plaza is probably one of the most interesting properties because of its great location, affordability, and superior management.

What are average rents for the area?
Average prices for rentals are a bit difficult to deal with in the CBD, because you have a huge range of options depending on your budget and expectations. However, a fair estimate for an international standard one bedroom apartment would probably be around RMB 8,000 per month, RMB 12,000 for a two bedroom and around RMB 15,000 for a three bedroom apartment.

What is the average price per square meter for units in this area?
The average purchasing price for residential properties in the CBD is around RMB 40,000 per square meter, RMB 50,000 for office spaces. Residential management fees are between RMB 6 and 10 per square meter per month, while for offices those fees are between RMB 25 and 30 per square meter per month. Price differences reflect a number of factors including land lease length regulations and property marketing and maintenance expenses.

However, it is important to point out that the range in prices is extensive as the CBD includes a number of luxury and more affordable properties. For instance, apartments in Sunshine 100 sell for as little as RMB 30,000 per square meter, while some units in Yintai Centre command prices as high as RMB 90,000 per square meter.

For office space, it is probably easier to compare rents as many properties are not for sale. Rents can be as low as RMB 5 per square meter per month in Jianwai SOHO and as high as RMB 10-12 per square meter per month at China World Tower. Prices vary depending on the orientation of the unit, floor, property management quality, management fees, building quality and features.

What are the best bars in the area?
The CBD area has the most active bar and dining scenes. In terms of bars, I would have to go with Xiu because of the energy in the venue and Atmosphere bar in the China World Tower because of the 80th floor views.

Are there any developments in the area in the next ten years?
The land within the CBD is almost completely developed, so there is not much room for further large projects. Nevertheless, there will be significant pressure on the area’s residential market as the China Central Television and China World office towers reach full occupancy. The increased demand for housing in the CBD will drive up property prices as the availability of residential units in the area is limited.

On a whole, real estate prices represent the productivity of land, and as long as the Chinese economy keeps growing and Beijing solidifies its position as a top international city, it is safe to say that prices will continue to go up. The speed of this increase will be determined by government policies relating to housing purchasing and finance regulations.

What are the best apartment compounds in the area?
Central Park, which is located in the CBD, was developed by Hong Kong Land, and is a great place for families. Pets are ok, and it comes with amenities such as a swimming pool and gym. It’s both near the subway (Jintai Xizhao on line 10) and other public transportation, and rents range from RMB 9,000 a month for a one bedroom to RMB 35,000 a month for a four bedroom apartment.

Fortune Heights was developed by Hong Kong Land, rents from RMB 17,000 for a one bedroom to RMB 45,000 for a three bedroom, and has both a swimming pool and a gym. It shares the same convenient transportation options as most of the buildings in this area. The only thing is that they don’t allow pets.

Tell us more about your company.
At Good View Property we focus on service and work on providing solutions. Our clients appreciate our work because we are efficient, understand their needs and because we hold ourselves accountable for the work we do.

We provide one stop real estate solutions, for residential, office and retail leasing and investment. In addition, we have expatriate staff fluent in a number of foreign languages including English, Russian, Italian and French so that we can be more effective in communicating and understanding the needs of our international client base.

What’s your top real estate tip for our readers?
Renting is an expense, while purchasing a property is an investment. Although current regulations allow expats to purchase only one property in Beijing, I believe that if you plan to live in Beijing for at least three years, it is a wise investment.

Article from Agenda, issue 68, Dec 2-Dec 15. To read more from the most recent issue of Agenda, download the PDF here. To find a copy, contact our distribution department at distribution@agendabeijing.com with an idea of where you work, live or play and we'll tell you where you can find one near you.