BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- There are many riddles in Beijing's property market this year, and the most recent one is the much higher sales price for apartments than for office buildings in the same district, China Daily reported Monday.
Industry experts said that in a healthy real estate market, the unit price of commercial property is usually 30 percent higher than that of residential buildings in the same region.
But in Beijing, the situation is just the opposite. In some areas, the price of high-end apartments is even 50 percent higher than that of office buildings.
A major reason for the abnormal purchasing patterns is too much speculative buying of high-end apartments, mainly by individual investors, the newspaper said, citing Li Wenjie, general manager of the property agency Centaline China (North China region).
Since the mortgage policy for office buildings is stricter, the purchase of office space requires bigger cash flow from investors, thus pushing some individual buyers away from the market.
According to the China Index Institute, the average property price in Beijing reached a record high of 17,509 yuan (2,574.9 U.S. dollars) per square meters in November, up 9.74 percent month-on-month.
Meanwhile, the floor space of available apartments dropped 30.3percent on a yearly basis to 13.6 million square meters at the end of November, the lowest since 2008.
Industry experts said that in a healthy real estate market, the unit price of commercial property is usually 30 percent higher than that of residential buildings in the same region.
But in Beijing, the situation is just the opposite. In some areas, the price of high-end apartments is even 50 percent higher than that of office buildings.
A major reason for the abnormal purchasing patterns is too much speculative buying of high-end apartments, mainly by individual investors, the newspaper said, citing Li Wenjie, general manager of the property agency Centaline China (North China region).
Since the mortgage policy for office buildings is stricter, the purchase of office space requires bigger cash flow from investors, thus pushing some individual buyers away from the market.
According to the China Index Institute, the average property price in Beijing reached a record high of 17,509 yuan (2,574.9 U.S. dollars) per square meters in November, up 9.74 percent month-on-month.
Meanwhile, the floor space of available apartments dropped 30.3percent on a yearly basis to 13.6 million square meters at the end of November, the lowest since 2008.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/14/content_12644057.htm
