The rise and rise of the 'rich class' A woman takes a look at a model of a property development in Haikou, Hainan province yesterday. Properties on the island province have become hot targets for the newly-rich Chinese. (China Daily)
The large siheyuan, a traditional house found in the capital’s sprawling hutongs, cost Chen 12 million yuan ($1.75 million), suggesting he is far removed from those who sweat and struggle for years to afford small, humble homes.
China has seen a massive expansion in the rich class in the past five years, according to analysts.
“The country’s fortune is increasing at a skyrocketing speed and is converging toward the rich class,” Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the Hurun Rich List, told Outlook Weekly.
“The number of people with a personal wealth of more than 1 billion yuan has rapidly risen since 2004. Then, there were 100. In 2009, we discovered that 1,000 people are now in the club.”
A spokesman for the Forbes China Rich List also said the threshold for being among the 400 richest people on the Chinese mainland had risen from 1.22 billion yuan in 2008 to 2.05 billion yuan last year.
The growth in Chinese millionaires alone has attracted interest for multinational companies, including Deutsche Bank AG, which is planning to target more services to China’s rich class, reported the German press.
According to other experts, the rich class is a group with only one thing on their mind: property.
A recent poll of wealthy people in Beijing and Shanghai by the Beijing Youth Daily found most owned at least three properties, while many subscribe to the traditional belief that, if you have money, you should invest in property. – read more at ChinaDaily.com…
Hong Kong clothing retailers threaten to quit Taiwan over tax issue: Taipei – Four Hong Kong clothing retailers are threatening to quit Taiwan over a tax dispute with Taiwan authorities, a press report said Monday. The four Hong Kong retailers – Hang Ten, Giordano, Bossini and BaLeNo – made the threat in a petition to President Ma Ying-jeou, demanding that their names be cleared, or they might withdraw from Taiwan, the United Daily News quoted Lai Shih-pao as saying. (Via China News.)
Hainan to curb ‘whopping housing price’: As of the phenomena that the ‘whopping prices’ for living in hotels in Hainan Province ‘bluff off’ the tourists during the Spring Festival, the government would takes efforts to regulate the market, Wu Kunxiong, deputy director general of the tourism department of Hainan Province said Saturday. The government will strictly crack down on the house speculators and formulate tourism standards to cope with the high prices, according to Wu. (Via Business – People’s Daily Online.)
Revenue From Beijing’s Five-star Hotels Beijing Down 16.9% In 2009: According to data provided by Bureau of Statistics of Beijing, the revenue of star-grade hotels in the city decreased by 9.7% year-on-year in 2009. During the entire year of 2009, star hotels in Beijing made total revenues of CNY21.94 billion, including CNY9.98 billion from guest rooms. (Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)
APEC seeking pathways to Asia-Pacific free trade area: Senior officials from Pacific Rim economies accelerated their efforts Monday to seek ”possible pathways” to a region-wide free trade zone, but fell short of reaching any consensus except to continue necessary work. After a meeting in Hiroshima, where Japan formally took up its chairmanship of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum for 2010, a Japanese official said, ”We already have very sensible analytical studies but also have lots of issues that require further discussions.” (Via Kyodo News (Business).)
Asia leads global march away from easy credit: (HONG KONG) The US Federal Reserve has just kick- started its cautious exit from unprecedented emergency lending measures – but the process has been going on for months in the Asia-Pacific region, underscoring the two-speed path of the global recovery. (Via Business Times Online – All The Headlines.)
Potential buyers in Qionghai, Hainan province, look at a display model of sold-out residential buildings. (China Daily)
More than 200 potential property buyers have been pouring into the island every day since the end of last year, when the government unveiled its tourism plan, local media reported.
Prices are rising by about 1,000 yuan ($164) per sq m every day for some properties. Those properties that were priced at 15,000 yuan per sq m at the start of the year now cost 20,000 yuan, reports said.
Prices of some of the properties have already hit 70,000 yuan per sq m, with figures constantly fluctuating as real estate hunters flock to the island.
Ye Ning, a professional real estate speculator in Sanya, a popular coastal city in Hainan, said the sudden rise in prices is troubling.
“The average price of new apartments in Sanya’s Fenghuangdao International Port were already as high as 60,000 yuan to 70,000 yuan per sq m as of Jan 11.
Now, the figure has risen to 100,000 yuan,” said Ye, who started his business just two years ago.
“Compared with Haikou (the capital) and Sanya, where prices are already too high for most people, real estate in Qionghai, Wenchang and Boao are still better for the attractive locales and relatively low prices,”he said.
Potential buyers from Zhejiang province and the northeast, such as Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces, are said to be the main force behind the skyrocketing prices. — read more at ChinaDaily.com…
Office Buildings near the Singapore River (photo: Randal Rayborn)
Singapore gains advantage from surplus office demand in Hong Kong: A 20 to 25 per cent fall in Grade A office rents in Singapore this year will emerge as a reason for widening the gap between rents in Singapore and in Hong Kong, and will give Singapore a competitive advantage with firms looking to expand in Asia, property firm Savills said yesterday. Rents are speculated to fall to $5 per square foot (psf) per month in 2011, accounting to a massive new supply comes on-stream, the firm’s research shows. Grade A office rents stood at $8.80 psf per month at the end of 2009, reported Savills. (Via TopNews Singapore.)
Hainan to halt land development approval on speculation concerns: China’s southern island province of Hainan will suspend land leasing and development approval in a move to curb property speculation, the province’s Party chief has said. Following a tourism promotion policy document issued by the central government earlier this month, real estate developers have flocked into the island, causing new property bubble concerns, Wei Liucheng, secretary of the Communist Party of China Hainan provincial committee, said at a meeting in Haikou Friday. (Via Business – People’s Daily Online.)
Taipei direct flights to Shanghai may begin: (ChinaPost.com.tw) – Direct flights between the Taipei Songshan Airport and the Shanghai Hongqiao Airport are likely to be launched before World Expo 2010 Shanghai opens on May 1, as Deputy Shanghai Mayor Tang Dengjie said Friday that both sides have completed various technical preparations and are working hard to kick off direct flights as early as possible. (Via Taiwan Headlines – Business.)
Tensions bubble over gas project: Japan warned China on Sunday that it would take action if Beijing starts gas production in a disputed field in the East China Sea, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. Although the two countries reached a broad agreement in 2008 on principles intended to solve the dispute by jointly developing gas fields, progress has been slow and Japan has accused China of drilling for gas in violation of the agreement. (Via RTHK On Internet – Finance News.)
Mazda eyes dissolving joint car production with Ford in China: Mazda Motor Corp. is considering dissolving its partnership with Ford Motor Co. for the joint production of cars in China to increase its flexibility in meeting growing demand for Mazda-brand cars in the country, company sources said Sunday. Mazda plans to withdraw from Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co. in Chongqing, a joint venture of Mazda, Ford and a Chinese automaker, after production of Mazda cars at the plant is transferred to another joint venture of the three automakers in Nanjing in May, the sources said. (Via Kyodo News (Business).)
Jetstar Airlines Airbus 320
All tickets on yesterday’s flight were sold out. The airline, a subsidiary of Australia’s Qantas Airways, will operate four flights weekly from Haikou to Singapore.
It will also launch three weekly flights from Singapore to Shantou in Guangdong Province, its second mainland route, in February next year,
“China is considered a major focus of Jetstar’s growth over the short to medium term, from Singapore in particular,” said Chong Phit Lian, chief executive officer of Jetstar Asia. “We recently announced plans to increase our fleet from Singapore by 46 percent over the next 12 months.” – read more at ShanghaiDaily.com…
