Wanda faces numerous challenges in first London project

It is going to be a tough start for Dalian Wanda Group in Britain, industry experts say, as the mainland property-to-film conglomerate begins its first London project amid rising competition for clients and contractors, just as the tide in the city's prime home market appears to have begun to ebb.

Wanda will market the One Nine Elms project in Hong Kong over the weekend, just a week after a Malaysian consortium started the sales process here for the iconic Battersea Power Station project.

The two projects are about 1km from each other, both at the waterfront along the south bank of the River Thames, at the redevelopment zone of Nine Elms that comprises more than 20 different developments.

Wanda's project is of a smaller scale, some 213 flats in the first release, and sits on existing infrastructure, said Michael Purefoy, a deputy general manager of Wanda's international real estate centre in Beijing.

He told the South China Morning Post that clients' response from London, Singapore, Beijing and Shanghai had exceeded expectations, as global awareness of the Wanda brand grew amid the company's aggressive expansion in countries including the United States, Spain and Australia.

Wanda bought the site last year in London near the new US embassy in its first foray into overseas markets. The 1.13 million sq ft scheme comprises two residential towers of 439 flats - one of which will be central London's tallest residential building - and a hotel. It is due for completion in late 2018.

Foreign buyers have fuelled soaring home prices in London in the past few years. However, a survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed expectations for housing inflation in the British capital were falling at the fastest pace since before the global financial crisis on worries about a strengthening pound, rising interest rates and possible punitive taxes on overseas buyers.