Guangdong developer beats local bidders to purchase Yangpu District plot
COUNTRY Garden Holdings Co, the number one property seller in China in the first half of 2017 by sales value, today acquired a land parcel in the city's northeastern Yangpu District, marking its entry into the central area of Shanghai.
The Guangdong-based developer paid 1.023 billion yuan (US$156 million) for the plot, after beating two domestic rivals including China Vanke Corp.
Covering a site area of 16,112 square meters and earmarked for office development, the parcel was sold for an average price of 25,393 yuan per square meter in terms of buildable space, totaling 40,280 square meters. That marked a premium of 0.3 percent from its starting price.
"This piece of land is well located, with convenient access to Ningguo Road Station of Metro Line 12 as well as the Inner Ring Elevated Road, making it a good choice for office development," said Lu Wenxi, senior manager of research at Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co.
"With abundant cash in hand, Country Garden is accelerating its pace to expand its land bank in Shanghai, where it had no centrally located development projects until this latest addition."
The purchase price for the plot looks reasonable as office projects in the neighbourhood sell for around 40,000 yuan per square meter on average, Centaline data showed.
As required by the city's land watchdog, at least 40 percent of the total space built on the site should be held by the developer for at least 20 years, which means Country Garden is allowed to sell the majority of the offices on the open market to replenish its capital if it wants.
Hong Kong-listed Country Garden first tapped into the city's real estate market in April 2015 after acquiring a residential plot in outlying Jiading District for about 600 million yuan.
Property sales registered by Country Garden totaled 288.9 billion yuan in the first six months of this year, outperforming China Vanke's 277.2 billion yuan and China Evergrande Group's 244.1 billion yuan.
