Wednesday 18 March 2009

Shanghai villa fetches record 205m yuan

Shimao Property Holdings has sold a villa in Shanghai for 205 million yuan (HK$232.45 million), making it the country’s most expensive residential property.

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Guanyu said...

Shanghai villa fetches record 205m yuan

Peggy Sito
18 March 2009

Shimao Property Holdings has sold a villa in Shanghai for 205 million yuan (HK$232.45 million), making it the country’s most expensive residential property.

The deal was clinched as the upmarket residential market in the mainland financial hub has been softening and property agents predicted the worst was yet to come.

Shimao chief financial officer Lawrence Hui Wai-man said the company recently had sold two villas at Shanghai Shimao Sheshan Villas in the city’s Sheshan area for 205 million yuan and 155 million yuan.

Mr. Hui said the 205 million yuan deal was the most expensive on record on the mainland, thanks to its location and brand. The buyer is not a mainland passport holder.

“The market has slowed. But if [a property] is the cream of the cream, it will still have its market,” Mr. Hui said.

However, he said investors should not read too much into one deal.

“The record-breaking deal does not represent a recovery in the market. It just so happened there was a wealthy buyer who liked the property,” Mr. Hui said.

There are 70 villas - each with a large private garden - in a two-phase development in the scenic tourist spot of Sheshan.

More than 60 units have been sold.

With a gross floor area of about 4,000 square metres, the 205 million yuan fully furnished property cost about 51,000 yuan per square metre.

The average price of similar, unfurnished villas was about 38,750 yuan per square metre.

Mr. Hui said the house was not the most expensive on a square metre basis. That title belonged to a unit at the luxury residential project Tomson Riviera in Shanghai developed by Tomson Group, which sold for about 130,000 yuan per square metre in 2006.

He said market activity had picked up last month but the outlook remained murky.

Clement Luk Sheng, a director and deputy general manager of Centaline (China), said luxury property prices had dropped about 20 per cent from its peak in the second half of last year and he expected to see more downward pressure.

Demand for luxury homes was slowing but activity in the mass-housing market had improved, Mr. Luk said.

China Vanke chairman Wang Shi earlier said prices in eastern China would continue to face pressure after the beginning of the downward cycle that began in the fourth quarter last year.