Olympics to bring more opportunities to China

The Olympic Games has created a myriad of opportunities for developers and investors in China, according to a new report.

In its latest report called The Greatest Olympic Legacy, consultants Jones Lang LaSalle said the capital Beijing has undergone a 're-birth'. The report looks at four areas of ongoing investment in the capital city - transport and infrastructure, retail, residential and commercial property.

It found that a combination of incentives, land zoning, expansion of new underground lines and integration of retail into these spaces is being achieved through planners and government departments collaborating to achieve their objectives.

There was a clear correlation between underground expansion and residential development opportunities,' the report says and this will channel office development into peripheral areas.

'Beijing is in the midst of fundamental change as city planners begin to a take more realistic and proactive approach to orchestrating the city's future development,' said Katie Kopec, lead director of the company's development and asset strategy team.

'The Olympic Games has accelerated many of these changes, and the substantial ongoing and expanding underground infrastructure is an investment in Beijing's future. Greater connectivity and the creation of decentralised commercial hubs will facilitate continued economic and population growth in Beijing and create a myriad of opportunities for developers, investors and occupiers,' she added.

JLL is providing advisory, leasing and management services for a mixed-use urban village adjacent to the site of the 2012 Summer Games and advising on the Media Centre. In Russia it is advising Sochi's Olympic project team for the Winter Games 2014 and in the US, JLL is supporting Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics, advising on developing sporting venues and on the private development of the Olympic Village.

But there are signs that some people are opting out of China having cashed in on the 'Olympic effect' and moving on to the next property hotspot.

According to research from HiFX, enquiries for property purchases in Beijing increased 112 % in 2004 (from a base of almost zero), 60 % in 2005, 21 % in 2006, and 11 % in 2007 but in the first six months of 2008 enquiries are down at 3 %.

This decline in enquiries as the Games approach suggests those buying in China were professional investors who were quick out of the blocks, argues HiFX. 'The growth in Beijing's property prices peaked in October 2007 and has been steadily slowing. Professional investors are now looking elsewhere,' claimed Mark Bodega, director at HiFX.

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