Cities, property developers poised to build on speedy links

The ambitious high-speed rail rollout on the mainland promises to be a boon for property developers, CB Richard Ellis executive director Andrew Ness says.

By 2020, the high-speed network was expected to reach 20,000 kilometres, connect more than 80 cities, serve half the country's population and reduce travel time by 60 per cent, Ness said.

'Some cities have major plans to regenerate areas around high-speed rail stations. A lot of money is going to be made by private property developers and local governments.'

For example, Longhua district in Shenzhen was benefiting from the rail development, with Hong Kong developers building land banks there, he said. Longhua will be home to an interchange for the Shenzhen Metro Line 12, to be built by Hong Kong's MTR Corporation and due to open later this year. It is also slated to be a stop on the high-speed rail link to Guangzhou and a future high-speed link to Shanghai.

The district, which now has about 20,000 people, is planning 13.3 million square metres of new development to accommodate 240,000.

Shanghai, meanwhile, was developing 26 square kilometres of land around the Hongqiao transport hub, which contained an airport, a metro rail station and a high-speed rail station, Ness said. The Shanghai government had started selling land sites from that development, he said.