[photopress:Huang_Guangyu.jpg,full,alignright]Reputedly China’s richest man, Huang Guangyu, owns Gome Group. Along with Pacific Star, a real estate group in Asia, raised $800 million for a fund to buy property in China.
The fund, to be managed by Pacific Star and Gome Property Investment, will specialize in residential and commercial properties, with half the funds going to each asset class. The properties will be located mostly in Beijing.
Jeff Tay, group president of Pacific Star, said, ‘There will be an increase in the middle class in China. That explains the growth in real estate and consumer.’
China’s rapid economic expansion is fueling urbanization, while the end of a state-sponsored housing system is also driving demand for property. Property prices in 70 major Chinese cities increased 5.6 percent in January from a year earlier, one-fifth of a percentage point faster than the growth rate in December.
Last month, Citigroup’s property unit raised $1.29 billion for its first fund to invest in real estate and related assets in the Asia-Pacific region with a focus on China and India, and Prudential plans to invest up to $1 billion in Asia’s real estate.
Source: International Herald Tribune
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