Investment in Shanghai property market surges this year

Shanghai real estate investment market concluded with record performance in 2016 with en bloc deals more than doubling in value from a year ago, data released today by global property service provider DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield showed.

Major real estate investment deals, excluding land transactions and confined to property acquisitions worth more than US$10 million each, have exceeded 130 billion yuan (US$18.64 billion) in the city so far this year, compared to 60 billion yuan in 2015.

"Offices, serviced apartments as well as retail malls were the most favored property types among investors over the past year," said Jim Yip, managing director of investment and advisory services at DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield China.  "Notably, domestic buyers played an absolutely dominant role in the local real estate investment market this year with more than 95 percent of the total value being sealed by them, majority of whom are financial and insurance companies."

Office buildings, mainly comprising of fully-leased office towers in central business districts, old offices or hotels that will be wholly or partly renovated into high-quality offices, as well as office buildings in emerging  areas such as the greater Hongqiao area and North Bund, accounted for more than 70 percent of the total deal.

By price, a 20 percent increase from 2015 has been registered in the office investment market, according to DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield data.