Hong Kong-based property investment firm Harvest Capital Partners plans a push into shopping malls in China’s second- and third-tier cities as a path to growth according to Chief Executive Ren Rong. Our illustration is of the Kunming shopping mall.
The company, which is majority owned by the state-controlled China Resources conglomerate, manages two international real-estate funds that focus on commercial and residential projects in greater China, with total capital close to US$1 billion.
Ren Rong said, "Regional shopping centers will become the next winning property sector in China for another 10 to 15 years."
U.K. real-estate development and investment firm Grosvenor Ltd., which has been selling some residential property investments in China, because the sector is producing less attractive yields than previously, has said it will focus on higher-yielding projects, such as retail properties.
Blue-chip developer Hang Lung Properties Ltd.’s chairman, Ronnie Chan, recently said malls in big Mainland cities are his favorite investments, adding "all provincial capitals are going to be good places to be at."
Wall Street Journal reported that during the first nine months of 2009, year-on-year income growth in households in second-tier cities, such as Chongqing, surpassed that of first-tier cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai.