As the Chinese government introduces further measures designed to cool the country’s buoyant residential market, a growing number of investors are looking at the opportunities available to them in the commercial sector.
"China's market was the only market in the Asia Pacific region that saw stable rent, even during the recent global financial crisis," Sigrid Zialcita, managing director of research for Cushman and Wakefield's Asia Pacific branch, told the Global Times.
He explained that the country has become a prime target for foreign institutional investors looking for investment opportunities, including pursuing rent and capital appreciation.
In Shanghai, Cushman and Wakefield explained there were a total of seven investment transactions in the first quarter of the year. This translated as 4.6 billion yuan, with foreign investors accounting for 49.6 percent of all those transactions.
In Beijing, the growing demand and limited quality office space drove up the average net effective rental of Grade A offices to 322 yuan per square meter per month in the first quarter this year. And in Shanghai, the number reached 363 yuan - topping China's office market.