Shanghai Chengtou Group launches rental apartment brand

Shanghai Chengtou Group, the city's major investor, developer and operator of infrastructure facilities, has launched its own rental apartment brand. 

The company on Thursday began construction of its latest batch of rental units in Yangpu and Minhang districts.

The 4,000 Creative Apartment units, located in New Jiangwan Town and Pujiang, are part of the 10,000 rental units Chengtou has committed to build during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).

"Shanghai Chengtou has secured around 16,000 units so far, including those under construction and in the pipeline, since May 2018 when we acquired our first land parcel for rental apartments, already surpassing our previous target of 10,000 units," Chengtou's Chairman Jiang Shujie said.

Aiming to meet the accommodation needs of young talented people working in nearby areas, Creative Apartments will encompass several compact layouts with one-bedroom units accounting for more than 50 percent.

Larger units catering to the demand of family tenants, with a size of around 70 square meters or 90 square meters, will take about 15 percent, Chengtou said.

Of the 4,000 units, about 900 apartments, located in Bay Valley which is adjacent to the new campus of Fudan University in New Jiangwan Town, will be released into the market by the end of this year.

According to Shanghai's 13th Five-Year Plan on housing, about 1.7 million new housing units will be added during the period, an increase of 60 percent over the previous five years.

Of the new housing, around 450,000 units will be "commodity houses," which are defined as residential properties outside of the city's subsidized low-income public housing program. Some 700,000 units will be reserved for leasing.

The new housing system Shanghai is currently building which places equal importance on sale and leasing will most benefit young talented people from outside of Shanghai as well as local people who cannot afford a home of their own, industry insiders said.