Financial institutions, commercial property developers and entrepreneurs from small and medium-sized enterprises are the major buyers.
Industry statistics show office space sold in August totaled 155,500 sq m in Shanghai, up 30.5% month-on-month. The transaction volume was 2.32 times that of the same period last year.
- SOHO, a Beijing-based and Hong Kong-listed property developer, in August agreed to acquire Donghai Plaza, a 52-story office and retail complex on prosperous West Nanjing Road, for RMB2.45 billion ($359 million.)
- CITIC Securities, the country’s largest securities firm, spent RMB1.4 billion in August for an office building in Beijing after a similar purchase in Shenzhen.
- Agricultural Bank of China spent RMB3.77 billion to buy 37 floors of an office tower in Shanghai in August.
Grant Ji, director of Savills (Beijing), a UK-based real estate service provider, said buyers, especially financial institutions, are mainly purchasing office properties for their own use rather than as investments.
China Daily reports that Zhu Zhongyi, vice chairman of the China Real Estate Association, said it is still hard to predict any upcoming changes in property purchase policies.