Real Estate & Construction News in China from Propertyshowrooms.com

China property slump continues to continue

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Construction of homes, offices and factories in China fell at least 16.6% in October after rising 32.5% a year earlier. Building is the biggest driver of China’s expansion, contributing a quarter of fixed- asset investment and employing 77 million people. The central bank has cut its key interest rate by the most in 11 years and the...

Anhui Conch Says China cement prices to fall in 2009

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This has some important implications for property. Anhui Conch Cement, China’s biggest maker of the building material, said prices will decrease early next year on cooling demand for new property and infrastructure in some regions. The slump in China’s property market may cause the company to be more ‘cautious’ in planning future expansion. The company will...

China's new highway-railway bridge sets world records

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The middle section of China's longest road and rail bridge is now complete. The Tianxingzhou Bridge, with it's combined four railroad tracks and six traffic lanes, crosses the Yangtze River in Wuhan, capital of the central Hubei Province...

China issues "land for land" policy to guarantee arable land area

Tue, 9 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

China's land authority has asked local governments to replenish the same amount of arable land first before existing arable land is allocated for non-farming purposes...

SOHO China in $130 million Beijing property project deal

Sun, 7 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

China property firm SOHO China will pay RMB890 million ($130 million) for land-use rights at the ZhongGuanCun SOHO Project, an office and retail complex in Beijing. The ZhongGuanCun SOHO Project has a construction site area of 5,654 square metres and a total saleable area of 54,260 square metres with 13 storeys above ground and 4 storeys...

Pöyry expands its real estate operations in China

Wed, 3 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Pöyry (spelled that way because it originates from Finland) has expanded its real estate consulting and engineering operations in China by acquiring the entire stock of Shanghai Kang Hong Construction. Based in Shanghai, the company employs 29 experts. Net sales for 2008 are estimated at $1.47 with good growth prospects. The transaction will not be finalized...

Beijing Centergate cancels $2.6 billion property plan

Mon, 1 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A sign of the times is that Beijing Centergate Technologies, developer of the city’s Zhongguancun technology district, has canceled its plan for an RMB18 billion ($2.6 billion) share placement to obtain real estate assets. Centergate said tight monetary policy this year had seriously affected China’s real estate sector. The company said in a brief statement, ‘It’s unclear...

Work begins on Tianjin’s new eco-city

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Construction of the transport infrastructure within the 4-sq-km Sino-Singaporean Eco-city start-up area of Tianjin has begun and full construction of the 30 sq. km. city will start next month. In April, the Chinese and Singaporean governments approved a development plan for the eco-city. It will be the second flagship Sino-Singaporean cooperation project, the first being the...

Royal to raise $2bn to develop island

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Cambodian conglomerate is raising $2bn from private investors, together with Hong Kong-based Millennium Group, to develop the island of Koh Rong...

Dalian Port Group to fund new Lvshunkou port projects

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

China Knowledge reports that the Dalian Port Group has signed an agreement with Dalian’s Lvshunkou district government to jointly develop Yangtouwa and Double-Island Bay areas. (Note Lvshunkou was previously known as Port Arthur and an alternative spelling is Lushunkou) Under the new agreement, Dalian Port Group, which operates China’s largest crude oil port, will increase its...

China has a new energy rule which will affect property

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Chinese government is drafting an energy regulation to stop new fixed-asset projects that do not meet national energy standards. The idea is to realize China’s energy-saving targets. The regulation means investors cannot be given a go-ahead if they don’t design detailed energy-efficient schemes. Which seems an eminently sensible idea. Currently 10 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions...

Shenzhen moves up in world rankings

Thu, 7 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The writer worked as a publisher and journalist in Hong Kong for many years. When he first went to Hong Kong — don’t ask — Shenzhen was a grubby little village. It is now China’s richest city ranked by per capita GDP and within another decade, it plans to become as modern and competitive as Singapore...

History-making solar power show in Tianjin Binhai

Wed, 6 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Tianjin Binhai New Area is becoming an advanced modern manufacturing and R&D area as well as being an international shipping center and logistics center. In the period of the 11th Five-year Plan, Tianjin will, among other things, accelerate R&D and commercialization of solar cells with an emphasis on multi-crystal silicon solar cells and thin-film amorphous silicon...

Tangshan: from earthquake to eco-city

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In the north of Hebei Province, the city of Tangshan is at the middle of the Bohai Bay area. It has a coastline of 198 km and the ports of Caofeidian and Jingtang. Tangshan is going distinctly green. In 2006, Chinese President Hu Jintao made an inspection tour of the city. Hu put forward his strategic conception...

Kardan wins auction for land for mixed-use development

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Kardan has won an auction with a local partner to acquire land with construction rights of about 109,000 square meters in the city of Hangzhou in China. Kardan will pay $62 million for the 10,400 square meters of land together with partners. Of the partners Geely Group will hold 40% of the project. Kardan’s subsidiary GTC Real...

Kerry, Shangri-La in $1 billion China property project

Mon, 4 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hong Kong-listed Kerry Properties (controlled by the Kuok Group which is the controlling shareholder in the South China Morning Post) said it would invest up to RMB7.3 billion in a hotel and residential project with ancillary commercial use in Hebei province. Kerry will form a joint venture with its sister company Shangri-La Asia, Singapore’s Jeston Investment...

Park Hyatt makes foray into China

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Park Hyatt will this summer have hotels in Beijing and Shanghai. Park Hyatt Beijing (seen here) and Park Hyatt Shanghai (seen below) will be in the tallest buildings in their respective cities. John Portman, who designed the original Hyatt hotel in Atlanta, put in Park Hyatt Beijing’s lobby a soaring ceiling meant to resemble a Chinese...

Ecological coastal city for China

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A new coastal city will be built in Caofeidian, an industrial zone in North China on the Bohai Sea. DHV, an engineering conultancy, has been commissioned, together with the Chinese planning institute Qinghua and the Arup consultancy from the UK, to carry out a coastal and urban development project in China. The coastal city is to be...

Wyndham brand to further expand in China

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Wyndham Hotel Group International has announced plans for the construction of a 337-room, 15-story luxury hotel in Shanghai. The Wyndham Baolian Hotel, scheduled to open in April 2010, is being developed by Shanghai Baolian Real Estate Company in the city’s Baoshan district. This will be a MICE hotel for it will have 1,650 square meters of meeting...

Sun Hung Kai forms China property JV in Sichuan with Henderson, Wharf

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Sun Hung Kai Properties and Henderson Land Development and Wharf (all three Hong Kong companies) have formed a joint venture to develop a property project in Chengdu City, Sichuan province, southwestern China. * Sun Hung Kai, Hong Kong’s largest developer by market capitalization, said in a statement it will hold a 40% stake in...

New World RMB307.32 million Henan property deal

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

New World Department Store China has entered into an agreement to acquire land-use rights for a 26,396.4 square meter residential/commercial site in Zhengzhou city in Henan for RMB307.32 million. New World Department Store also acquired the right to use four levels at the podium of a commercial building that will be built on the development site...

Encouragement to open up in designated zones

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

From a site called The Lawyer Blog we get a glimpse of the way in which companies are encouraged to invest in the development of assorted zones. ‘Enterprises that were established on Hainan Island and that were engaged in the development and operation of infrastructure such as ports, wharfs, airports, highways, railways, power stations, coal mines...

Development zones explained

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Development zones are named according to their different focuses, like ‘economic and technological development zone’, ‘economic development zone’, ‘high-tech industries development zone’ and ’science and technology park’. There are also development zones at different levels depending on their supervising institutions, ranging from ‘national’ development zones to ‘provincial’ and ‘municipal’ ones. Development zones are often divided into...

Government to help real estate developers

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Economic Observer, the Chinese language newspaper in Beijing, reports the government is likely to take measures to ease property developers’ funding difficulties caused by loan curbs and falling sales. The source for this is not identified. The Chinese-language newspaper said the People’s Bank of China, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other ministries...

Lexington Plaza Shenyang opened

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Lexington Plaza Shenyang Rich Gate Hotel has opened and is ready to welcome soccer fans from around the globe for Shenyang is where the soccer portion of the Olympics will be held. The Lexington Plaza hotel has 600 rooms and is in the largest shopping and entertainment complex in China— Rich Gate City. The Lexington Plaza...

World's first carbon-neutral city delayed again

Tue, 8 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Dongtan, China's flagship eco-city is facing delays before the main construction even gets underway with completion of the first phase now unlikely before 2012...

TEDA named a model green industrial park

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A working meeting for state-level eco-industrial parks (sound like a contradiction in terms but is not) was held in TEDA (Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area) and granted certificates to China’s first batch of accredited state-level eco-industrial parks such as TEDA, Suzhou Industrial Park and Suzhou National New and Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone. An eco-industrial park is a...

Why the boom is not building a cool China

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Beijing's new architecture is not the fruit of home-grown creativity: it is created by foreigners and expresses the dead hand of state power, writes Geoff Dyer ...