China Economic Review
Charting China’s changing economic terrain · Since 1990
Doing an usufruct . . . for RMB702 mn
November 2, 2009
Poly Real Estate, one of the largest real estate developers in China, has won the usufruct of a large land plot at Maxi Village, Huadu, Guangzhou, south China, with an offer of RMB702 million.(You may well be asking what the devil an usufruct is and should it be allowed. Usufruct is the right of enjoying a thing, the property of which is vested in another, and to draw from the same all the profit, utility, and advantage which it may produce, provided it be without altering the substance of the thing. I simply cannot for the life of me see how, with such a definition, an urban developer can get the usufruct rights to a property and make a quid, which is probably why I am only a lowly scribe. The two people in our illustration are discussing, strongly, the subject of real estate. They may, indeed, be arguing about the definition of usufruct.)
After 54 rounds of bidding, the Shanghai-listed real estate developer finally beat other bidders like Country Garden Holdings Company. The starting price was RMB420 million.
The lot, with a total area of 232,480 square meters, is designed to have a floor area of 272,033 square meters for residential use, and of 31,264 square meters for cultural and entertainment purpose.
Trading Markets reports that in October Poly Real Estate obtained four land lots respectively in Hanghzou, Nanjing, Foshan and Guangzhou for a total of RMB9.331 billion.