The average occupancy costs per workstation per annum in Beijing’s CBD area rose 38% to USD8,830 in 2011, propelling the city to jump from 73rd to 35th place in the annual Global Occupancy Costs ― Office report by DTZ. The global ranking of Shanghai, particularly Jing’an district, rose to 37th in 2011 from 49th a year earlier. In the Asia-Pacific, Beijing and Shanghai were ranked the 9th and 10th most expensive locations. Globally, Hong Kong remains the world’s most costly office location with occupancy costs per annum per workstation at USD25,160, ahead of London’s West End and Geneva. Beijing will rise the most over the next five years, up 13 places into the top 25 most costly markets globally by 2016, the report said.

Helped by growing demand and a shortage of supply, Beijing office rents soared last year, making it the world’s fifth most expensive city for office space in terms of occupancy costs, according to international property consultant Cushman & Wakefield (C&W). “As the Chinese calendar moves into the Year of the Dragon, prime office rents in Beijing’s central business district have risen year on year by 75%, a steeper increase than 2010 [48%],” C&W said in a report on the world’s most expensive office locations. Beijing achieved the largest increase last year of any city in the world, it said. With an annual occupation cost of USD130 per sq ft, it ranked the fifth most costly city globally, ahead of New York, Sydney and Paris. Beijing ranked 15th a year ago. C&W said the Chinese capital was also the third most expensive in Asia for office space, after Hong Kong and Tokyo. Hong Kong, with an annual occupancy cost of USD244 per sq ft, was the most expensive, followed by Tokyo, the West End of London and Moscow. In 2010, Tokyo held top position, with London second and Hong Kong third. The occupancy-cost survey takes into account service charges and local taxes to allow direct comparisons between countries. “We noticed an upward trend in office rents in most major Chinese cities in 2011,” said Andy Zhang, Managing Director of C&W’s Chinese operations. “The unprecedented urbanization process in China and strong economic growth will continue to drive up the demand for office space.” The two fastest-rising locations in terms of rental growth in the Asia-Pacific after Beijing were Shanghai and Singapore, the South China Morning Post reports.

The proportion of new small and medium-sized homes in Hong Kong bought by mainlanders dropped 11 percentage points in the last quarter of 2011 as developers offered discounts to draw more Hong Kong home seekers into the market, a survey conducted by Centaline Property Agency shows. The decline saw the share of new homes worth less than HKD12 million sold to mainland buyers fall to 24.3% of total new-home sales in the fourth quarter, from 35.5% in the third quarter. By value, mainland buyers’ share of sales of small and medium-sized new flats dropped to 25.5% in the fourth quarter, from 38.2% in the third. The absolute number of mainland buyers in the sector has seen no big change. “The decline in percentage terms was mainly because several new projects were launched for pre-sale at short notice and Hong Kong people dominated the sales,” said Wong Leung-sing, Associate Research Director at Centaline. Agents said mainlanders typically made up 35% to 40% of buyers of new flats. In the secondary market, mainland buyers accounted for 9.6% of transactions in the quarter, the same as in the previous quarter. Their deals accounted for 11.8% of the total value of transactions during the period, also unchanged from the third quarter. Mainland buyers also spent less on luxury homes in the final quarter, accounting for 41.6% of total sales of luxury homes (those worth HKD12 million or more), compared to 49.3% in the third quarter. On a year-on-year basis, however, spending by mainlanders on luxury apartments accounted for 42.8% of total spending in the sector, up from 33.8% in 2010. For flats costing less than HKD12 million, mainland buyers accounted for 24.3% of total sales, up from 16.2% in 2010, the South China Morning Post reports.

China’s housing market almost came to a standstill during the Lunar New Year holiday, with many cities seeing few transactions. In Guangzhou, 19 new properties were sold from January 22 to 27, a 59.6% year-on-year fall. In Hangzhou only one property was sold during the holiday, while in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, 35 home transactions were recorded during the week, a five-year low. In the city, 270 properties were sold during the holiday in 2007 and 39 in 2011. Media reported that Beijing’s market had its chilliest winter ever, without a single transaction during the holiday. However, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development told China Daily that the suspension of the agency’s official website during the holiday meant there were no transactions recorded. Housing buyers and sellers in the capital must complete their transactions through the website. Liu Yuan, Senior Analyst with Centaline, a property agent, said the month in which the Spring Festival falls is always the slowest month of the year. “Some property developers have even shut down sales offices,” said Chen Guang, Analyst with Century 21 China. “Only a big price cut, between 10% and 15% for instance, would really stimulate consumers to buy,” said Liu Chunyan, General Manager of Beijing WorldUnion Properties Consultancy Co. The Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Center for Forecasting Science has predicted that average housing prices would fall 5.3% this year.

Major property developers are expected to set up their own funds this year. Developers need to find more than CNY700 billion to pay interest and principal of loans. Major developers such as China Overseas Land & Investment and Gemdale Corp are among the first to have launched their own funds. A total of 29 property funds raised USD4.1 billion in 2011, a big improvement on the USD2.9 billion raised by 28 vehicles in 2010, according to the consultancy Zero2IPO. Industry analysts expect that more than USD6 billion will be raised in 2012 and that the property fund market will expand at an annual rate of 40% to 50% over the next few years. The funds target wealthy entrepreneurs, with an investment threshold of CNY10 million and above and are expected to offer annual returns of at least 25%, said Fu Zhe, Zero2IPO Analyst in Beijing. “Private investors still have a strong interest in the property sector as there are really not many other options for them,” said Su Xin, Chairman of Go-high Investment, which invests in commercial real estate.