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SCMP Reporter

The Sars outbreak has made buying more focused in the third quarter

Beijing Capital Land sold 1.1 billion yuan (HK$1.02 billion)  worth of residential  properties in the first nine months, helped by a booming market in the capital  in the third quarter.

Tang Jun,  president and executive director of the Hong Kong-listed developer, the largest in Beijing, attributed the strong sales to a  rebound in the residential market  and a rapidly expanding economy.

According to official figures, Beijing's economy grew 9.6 per cent to 151 billion yuan in the first half.

Third-quarter residential property transactions in Beijing jumped 60 per cent from the second quarter. Property prices in the primary  market climbed 13 per cent.

Thanks to the upswing,  Beijing Capital sold about 48,000 square metres of residential  properties between July and September, which accounted for about 82 per cent of its sales in the first six months, Mr Tang said.

'The traditional peak season of flat-hunting activities runs from April to October, but due to the Sars effect, buying was more focused in the third quarter,' he said.

Mr Tang said a year-on-year comparison of third-quarter figures was not available because the company tallied sales only every six months before it listed in Hong Kong in June this year.

Beijing Capital is a subsidiary of Capital Group, a state-owned company under the supervision of the Beijing municipal government.

Within the residential market, the developer has a focus on middle- and upper-range flats priced between 7,000 and 10,000  yuan per square metre, or 500,000 yuan to more than one million yuan per unit.

Mr Tang said the company was working with strategic investor GIC Real Estate, the property arm of the Singapore government, on two large-scale residential projects in Beijing and a deal would be concluded later this year.

He said the projects would involve more than 100,000 sq metres of space with a net profit of more than 20 per cent.

Capital Group president and chief executive Liu Xiaoguang  said Beijing Capital would gain preferential rights to develop more than two million square metres of land along the 27km Metro Line No5 for both commercial and residential uses.

'However, we will only develop those [properties] in prime locations with good profit potential,' Mr Liu said.

He said HSBC, Beijing Capital's listing sponsor, which reportedly held 6 per cent of the company as of August, had already sold its remaining stake in the firm.



Home sales soar for Beijing Capital