Pre-IPO, Cheung Kong and its subsidiary Hutchison Whampoa own a combined 51.3% of Oriental Plaza. The other major owners are Bank of China and China Life Insurance, with 19.8% each, and Orient Overseas International with 7.9%. All the owners will be diluted proportionally through the issue of new units and at the time of listing Cheung Kong’s and Hutchison’s stake will have dropped to approximately 30.8%. It could fall slightly more if the 15% greenshoe is also exercised.

The IPO is arranged by BOC International, Citic Securities and HSBC.    - 2011 April 11    FINANCE ASIA

Excerpt of the article:

Hui Xian is offering 2 billion units, or 40% of its entire equity capital, at a price between Rmb5.24 and Rmb5.58. The price range translates into a 2011 dividend yield of about 4% to 4.3% (based on the joint bookrunner consensus), which compares very favourably to renminbi deposit rates in Hong Kong that range from 0.45% to 0.6%. It is also above the yield of most of the offshore renminbi bonds, commonly referred to as dim sum bonds. Of the 59 bonds issued so far, only four offer a coupon of more than 4%.

The indicated yield isn’t as high as that of other Hong Kong-listed Reits, which trade on an average 2011 yield of about 5.7%. However, these obviously don’t offer exposure to the renminbi. The only Hong Kong-listed Reit to have all its assets in China is Guangzhou Reit, which is significantly smaller than Hui Xian, both in terms of asset value and revenues. GZI Reit is currently trading at an estimated 2011 yield of about 7.1%.

The yield also translates into a 3% to 9% discount to net asset value, based on end-2011 estimates.

The new Reit will have a retail investor-friendly structure with 20% of the deal earmarked for the Hong Kong public, compared with 10% on most other IPOs. The clawback triggers are also unusually generous towards retail investors. The retail tranche only needs to be between five and 10 times covered for this portion of the deal to be increased to at least 40%. And if it is more than 10 times covered the retail trance will be increase to at least 50% of the total offering. As indicated by the words “at least”, the issuer will have the option to sell more units to retail investors, should it wish to do so.

However, sources say there has been strong interest from both high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors before the launch, so there is likely to be competition for the units. As noted, the retail offering will open for subscription today and will run parallel to the institutional bookbuilding. Both offers will close on April 19 and the final price is expected to be determined after the London close that day. The deal is not open to onshore US investors.

At the time of listing, Hui Xian will hold one property — the Oriental Plaza in Beijing, which is a mixed-use development that includes a shopping mall, eight grade-A office buildings, serviced apartments and the Grand Hyatt hotel. It is centrally located at the intersection of Wangfujing Street and East Chang’an Avenue, close to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, and has been open since 2000. The mall accounted for 48% of the operating profit in the first 10 months last year, while the office towers brought in 35%. The Grand Hyatt and the services apartments are smaller contributors with 14% and 3% respectively.

The asset is valued by American Appraisal at Rmb31.4 billion. At close to 650,000 square metres it is twice the size of Hang Lung Properties’ Grand Gateway development in Shanghai, which is the most established mixed-use development in China. Hui Xian’s shopping mall, which has 100% occupancy, is also significantly larger than other shopping malls in the same area and is able to charge premium rents. Those rents are expected to increase further at an average 13% a year until 2013, as more than 50% of the leasable area is coming up for renewal this year and next.

We have the best guide in Beijing!  One of the most highly regarded venture capitalists in Greater China - he used to head Yahoo! Northern Aisa, Motorola China, and Northern Telecom.   Talent runs in the family... plus he hosts us at the most fabulous restaurants.  You have to know a local to explore the depths of the local, yet world class restaurants.    He took us to:

• Green T. House   >> video below

Beijing flat prices rise to 22 times income levels :  report

• Beijing home prices tumble 

A typical Beijing flat costs about 22 times average incomes in the city, state media said yesterday, highlighting the challenge China faces providing affordable housing amid a property boom.

A 90-square-metre apartment in Beijing cost 1.6 million yuan (S$325,331) last year, the China Daily said, citing an independent report. That compared to an average household disposable income of around 71,000 yuan in 2009, according to city figures. The report was completed by the Beijing University of Technology and the Social Science Academic Press.

It said the building of low-cost, government-subsidised housing had failed to meet demand and called on policy-makers to increase the supply of land for such projects.

Authorities in China have issued a slew of measures in recent months aimed at preventing the property market overheating and causing a bubble that could derail the world's third-largest economy. Chinese property prices in June fell 0.1 per cent from the previous month, their first monthly fall since the first quarter of 2009, according to official data. --    2010 December  AFP

Unit prices for Beijing apartments beat offices

There are many riddles in Beijing's property market this year, and the most recent one is the much higher sales price for apartments than for office buildings in the same district, China Daily reported yesterday.

Industry experts said that in a healthy real estate market, the unit price of commercial property is usually 30 per cent higher than that of residential buildings in the same region.

But in Beijing, the situation is just the opposite. In some areas, the price of high-end apartments is even 50 per cent higher than that of office buildings.

A major reason for the abnormal purchasing patterns is too much speculative buying of high-end apartments, mainly by individual investors, the newspaper said, citing Li Wenjie, general manager of the property agency Centaline China (North China region).

Since the mortgage policy for office buildings is stricter, the purchase of office space requires bigger cashflow from investors, thus pushing some individual buyers away from the market.

According to the China Index Institute, the average property price in Beijing reached a record high of 17,509 yuan (S$3,570) per sqm in November, up 9.74 per cent month-on-month.

Meanwhile, the floor space of available apartments dropped 30.3 per cent on a yearly basis to 13.6 million sqm at the end of November, the lowest since 2008. -- 2009 December 15   Xinhua

Monuments to a new China

Although it will not be finished for another year or so, the China Central Television headquarters, designed by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren of the Dutch firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture, is a jaw-dropping sight.

The skyscraper consists of two 51-story towers, connected by a pair of cantilevered arms. Its dark-glass exterior is wrapped in steel webbing that thickens where the structure requires bracing and melts away where it needs less.

The building is itself a daredevil. As an example of design prowess in the way it turns assumptions about skyscrapers inside out, and as a sublime presence on the smoggy Beijing skyline - the tower is a tour de force.

But what does its appeal say about the new Beijing, this deeply historical capital city that has spent a decade remaking itself in advance of the summer Olympics? There the issue is murkier, fraught with questions about the relationship between design freedom and political variety.

This was the surprise of my recent visit to Beijing. On earlier trips, I had watched the dismaying destruction of the city's system of courtyard houses, linked by narrow alleyways called hutongs. That destruction continues to spread.

I had spoken with local designers about how the decision to give prominent buildings to Western architects sparked controversy and brought back to the surface deep-seated Chinese fears about exploitation by foreigners. But I did not anticipate that so many of the new architectural icons would share such an imposing, old- fashioned brand of monumentality.

Like nearly all capital cities, Beijing is full of somber and grandiose tributes to state glory and former leaders, many grouped in and around Tiananmen Square. But its postwar housing and commercial architecture were bland.

In the run-up to the Olympics, Western architects and their Chinese clients have extended the serious scale once reserved for government ministries and memorials to include, along with CCTV, stadiums for the Games, a new airport terminal by Norman Foster and a domed national theatre by France's Paul Andreu.

The Beijing I visited this time is a crossroads where avant-garde design meets autocratic taste.

Beijing has reinvented itself before, most recently following the 1949 Communist revolution, when Soviet advisers helped Chinese leaders replan the city. But it has never been a center for innovation or experienced the massive growth that it has in the last two decades.

When Deng Xiaoping opened China to market reforms nearly three decades ago, he made sure that economic experiments - and new city-making - happened in places distant from the capital.

During the Cultural Revolution, more than 30 million Chinese were ordered to leave cities for the countryside to be "rusticated." For much of the 1960s and '70s, very little was built; architecture withered. Now Beijing's population is nearing 18 million - up from about 11 million a decade ago - and China has more than 100 cities with at least one million residents.

There are signs of progressive and eco-conscious planning in Beijing but mostly, the landmarks express ambition carried out at warp speed. The powerful strangeness of the city's new icons is exaggerated by the way they are placed on huge pieces of land, creating an urban-planning version of the condition cultural critic George WS Trow called "the context of no context."

The national theater, known as the Egg, sits behind an enormous circular moat. CCTV rises from 49 acres, more than three times the size of the World Trade Center site in New York.

The drama of the setting complicates some of Koolhaas' arguments defending his decision to design the headquarters for CCTV, whose programming is pro-government. What the building demonstrates is that in a society such as China's, if officials clear out a vast tabula rasa in a prominent location and give an architect the freedom to produce something truly innovative, that very freedom can become a mechanism for promoting state strength.

In certain settings, making a prominent structure radical or off- balance can be a means of undercutting cultural or government authority.

Scale, site and experimental geometry come together at CCTV to produce one of the most instantly impressive structures I have ever seen. But it is not what you would call uplifting.

Consider the National Stadium, which has emerged as the primary symbol of the Beijing Games. Designed by the Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron, it is known as the "bird's nest." The nickname suggests a delicacy that is clear to see in computer renderings and photographs, but entirely missing up close.

The stadium sits on a vast paved plaza, created when a residential district was razed to make room for the main Olympic facilities. It is flanked by a broad boulevard laid out by Albert Speer, the son of Adolf Hitler's favorite architect, which further exaggerates its scale and setting.

So does the exterior, with its woven columns. Because of their sheer size - the stadium is roughly the height of a 25-story building - the columns operate both as ornament and as the digital-age equivalent of the large pillars on a neoclassical bank or government building.

The bird's nest is a virtuosic example of Herzog & de Meuron's talent that also manages to retire tattered ideas about stadium architecture. But above all, it is, very simply, a monument - to the new China and to newness itself.   - 2008 August     LOS ANGELES TIMES

China's capital is a city of extremes, physically exhausting and intimidating for its sheer sprawl and harsh climate, yet exhilarating and charming for its hidden cultural finds and mind-boggling speed of change.

• Traffic is a bit of a problem in Beijing
• Forbidden City - security needs some improvement
• Distressed Beijing
• Olympic stadium  >> MORE
• Beijing Office market
• CCTV building
• China World Trade Centre
• Lenovo | Raycom Infotech Building
• 798 district
• Dongcheng
• Beijing Capital Tower
• Lost in Transition
• Beijing Residential Market
• Beijing more expensive than HK for expatriates

While not China's largest city, Beijing is definitely the most influential metropolitan center in that fast-growing Asian market. Since China joined the World Trade Organization, the capital has attracted dozens of multinational marketers who value its close proximity to influential Communist cadres. The opening of China's telecom, finance and banking industries, as well as hype surrounding the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games, are helping Beijing steal some of the attention that used to be focused on Shanghai.

The success of Beijing's tech industry, namely the booming number of Internet start-ups, has changed the mentality of Beijingers and instigated a lot of cultural changes, like more films and rock bands coming out of Beijing these days. This new breed of consumers is more knowledge-based, adventurous and tech-savvy.

Beijing was already one of China's most sophisticated and affluent media markets. All but two of the ten-most advertised brands on local TV are now Western products, a reality reflected in the growing number of locally-made campaigns that could run in New York or London. For example, a new TV campaign for Li-Ning, China's leading sportswear brand, was filmed in Africa to promote the Beijing-based brand's international ambitions. But local agency execs warn that Beijingers still are not impressed by flashy pitches, preferring instead no-nonsense information-based advertising.

Beijing Takes on Shanghai

Shanghai is home to China's biggest stock exchange, its bond and money markets, and the China headquarters of several foreign banks. But now the coastal city long seen as this nation's answer to New York is facing competition from an unlikely rival to the north: Beijing.

The rising profile of China's political capital in the financial sector reflects, in part, the central role still played by the state in banking, securities and other financial businesses. In the past several years, following the development of an area in west Beijing known as Financial Street, the city has attracted banks and bankers from New York, Frankfurt and Paris that are putting their China headquarters there, drawn largely by greater proximity to China's most-important decision makers.

On Financial Street, foreign bankers say they have easier access to policy information because the area hosts all of China's financial regulatory agencies and the main offices of China's four biggest domestic banks. Increasingly, it is also home to many of their competitors from overseas.

"In Beijing you can see the whole picture, while in Shanghai [the perspectives] are very local," said a senior banker at a U.S. investment house.

Several big names, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG, which have more of an investment-banking than a commercial-banking presence in China, have chosen Beijing for their mainland China headquarters. Skyscrapers just a few years old on Financial Street have been filling up with teams from foreign banks, and the area -- although far, in Beijing's heavy traffic, from the eastern part of the city that long hosted most foreign business -- now boasts several of Beijing's swankiest hotels.

"Being close to the market, the customers and the regulators is very important," said Jackson Cheung, chief executive for China of French bank Société Genéralé SA.    SocGen has decided to base its locally incorporated subsidiary in Beijing when it opens, probably in the fourth quarter of this year, although it will also keep operations in Shanghai.

Beijing's emergence as a financial hub accelerated after Wang Qishan, an official with long experience dealing with the financial sector known and a reputation as a capable problem-solver, became mayor of Beijing in 2004. Mr. Wang earlier this year was promoted to vice premier in charge of the country's economic and financial issues.

The capital also is home to more than 100 central-government-owned enterprises, including the big state-owned telecommunication operators and oil companies. Many of those companies that haven't already done so are expected to offer shares publicly and pursue mergers and acquisitions in the years to come. These expectations make Beijing a lucrative market for investment bankers, says Huo Xuewen, head of the Finance Bureau of the Beijing Municipal Government.

In early May, Beijing city leaders launched a set of guidelines to push development further, saying a previous five-year plan drawn in 2005 was "conservative."    Beijing will expand Financial Street to host emerging businesses in areas such as financial leasing, futures broking, and investment trusts. As part of the plan, Beijing will add development parks to house back-office services for foreign banks, Mr. Huo said.

Beijing still lacks some policies to keep foreign companies coming, such as tax preferential measures, says the foreign banker. And Shanghai is by no means sitting still. Earlier this month at a forum in Shanghai's financial district, officials said that developing Shanghai into an international financial center remains a national strategy.

Li Chao, spokesman for the People's Bank of China, said that while the central bank supports the efforts of other cities to boost their financial status, it is always easier said than done to build a so-called financial hub. The central bank is based in Beijing, but it has made Shanghai its secondary headquarters, saying it can better safeguard the country's financial stability with a big office close to the markets.   - 2008 May 28   WALL ST.JOURNAL

Land in Beijing under strict control

Beijing has imposed strict control over land use this year, with supply of no more than 6,300 hectares, compared with last year´s 6,500 hectares, according to a plan released by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of State Land and Resources.

Land supply for new construction will be limited to 3,500 hectares, including 1,600 hectares for housing projects. Two hundred and twenty hectares must be used for building houses for low-income families this year

Land supply in downtown Beijing is supposed to be no more than 30 per cent of the total, while suburban areas will take the other 70 per cent. The plan gives priority to land use for the Olympic Games and urban infrastructure construction.   - 2007 September 18   ASIA PULSE

Outlook's bright for Beijing property

Beijing will be the mainlands best residential market to invest in this year as property prices will continue to climb steadily, largely driven by demand generated by this summers Olympic Games, property consultants say.

According to Savills, selling prices of upscale apartments in Beijing are expected to rise 10 to 20 percent in 2008, while rents jump 20 to 30 percent.

Savills (Beijing) deputy managing director Eric Chan Wing-fai said high- end flats mostly service apartments and luxury homes can actually act as an indicator reflecting the performance of the entire market.

High-end apartments only account for about 20 percent share in the market, but they are exerting influence on prices in the mass market, Chan said.

Beijings town planning and infrastructure have been improving because of the Olympics. With an improved living environment, people from other parts of the mainland or even foreign expatriates are lured to live in the city.

Beijings flat prices have been soaring since 2003. Savills data shows high- end apartment prices in the city doubled from 2003 to 2007. Average sale prices last year rose about 37.16 percent from 2006 to HK$28,636 per square meter.

Even after the Olympics fever subsides in 2009, Beijing would continue to reap spinoff benefits as international awareness of China will be raised this year, attracting more people to live or invest in the countrys capital that is currently home to more than 8.5 million urban dwellers, Chan said.

As well as the Olympics catalyst, property consultants noted that strong domestic demand is another reason for the continued boost in flat prices.

Compared to other cities, Beijing is a more appealing place to live in as the headquarters of the government and most companies are located here, said Alan Ngok Fung-gong, residential department director for Northern China at DTZ Debenham Tie Leung.

Furthermore, the city does not have its own dialects. People just need to know Putonghua. Its easier for people to adapt to living in Beijing.

As well, Ngok said nearby cities such as Tianjin and Jinan do not enjoy the luxury of rapid economic development unlike Beijing.

The strong residential market demand in the capital cannot be diversified to cities nearby, leaving Beijing with strong and sustainable domestic demand, Ngok said. However, transaction volume decreased in the fourth quarter last year due to the government austerity measures along with rising flat prices.

According to DTZ, 7,951 units changed hands in the Beijing housing market in December, down 40 percent from a year ago.

Fewer units were sold as sales prices were lifted. Residential unit prices in the capital increased about 37 percent to 13,600 yuan (HK$14,523) per square meter, Ngok said, adding that seasonal factor was another reason.

Sales in November and December usually fall. The number of residential units sold in November fell 37 percent, Ngok said.

Chan, however, is optimistic that the falling transaction volume will end.

The transaction volume drop in the fourth quarter will only be short term. Sales will pick up again as the government only wants to control instead of push down property prices, he said.

Starting this year, Chan said property prices in the capital will achieve moderate growth rather than escalating 30 to 40 percent each year.

The residential market in Beijing will continue its uptrend this year. Property prices will rise in a stable manner.   - 2008 January 3     THE STANDARD 

Real estate biggest private cash lure for Beijing

About 64.22 billion yuan (US$8 billion) of nongovernmental investment has been thrown into the real estate market in Beijing in the first seven months of this year, accounting for 77% of the city´s total nongovernmental investment of 83.4 billion yuan, according to statistics released by Beijing Municipal Statistic Bureau (BMSB).

Nongovernmental investment refers to investment of foreign enterprises and enterprises from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and domestic investment from non-state-owned sectors. Statistics show that nongovernmental investment also accounted for more than 80% of 79.76 billion yuan injected into Beijing´s real restate projects in the Jan. - July period. It is learned that the growth of nongovernmental investment in the first seven months reached 29.8% as compared with the 11% growth in the same period of last year.

It is reported that the fast-growing nongovernmental investment is expected to provide enough capital for Beijing´s real asset market even if no investment comes from state-owned or state holding real estate development companies.

Xiao Jincheng, an expert with the National Development and Reform Commission, said that a considerable part of the so-called nongovernmental investment is bank loans.

"It is the undersupply and hiking housing prices that lure more and more private enterprises into the real estate market", said Xiao, adding that "because real estate investment is largely regarded as a good way for preserving the value".  -  2007 August 22

BLOG

• Major traffic congestion - We sat over an hour to move just a few blocks and bad pollution!

---

Beijing has undergone a huge expansion of residential, office and hotel properties in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games and in anticipation of an influx of corporate headquarters.

While most analysts and developers are bullish on the long-term prospects of property prices, many say that capacity is likely to outstrip demand in the next five years.

This is because most of the planned projects must be finished, or be in the final stages, by 2006 as the government has banned construction cranes in Beijing's town centre from 2007 to avoid marring the skyline during the Olympics.    - South China Morning Post     11 Dec 2003

HOTELS

Beijing Hotel Companies Go for the Gold
S&P says select lodging companies are attractive investments as China's hotel market gears up for the Olympics

As with any event of such scale, attendees are going to need hotel rooms. Lots of hotel rooms. Beijing is expected to receive about 500,000 to 550,000 overseas visitors as it hosts the Summer Games, according to chinadaily.com. And that raises a question for investors: Are there attractive growth opportunities for hotel companies in China? Standard & Poor's Equity Research says yes.

This $40 billion event will increase China's expanding tourist traffic, and will likely improve its already hot market for hotels. China ranks fourth on the list of top destinations, and some believe it could surpass the U.S. to become the top destination over the next 10 years. China's growing middle-class population is also spending more on vacations within China.

Lots of Rooms in the Pipeline

Some major hotel companies stand to profit from this potential growth, in 2008 and beyond, says S&P.

"Business and tourist travel will likely benefit from China's growth, and it's not surprising that there are significant growth opportunities available for hotel companies there. The Olympics will likely contribute to this growth," says Tom Graves, co-head of U.S. consumer discretionary equity research for S&P.

China has the largest development pipeline for hotels in the world after the U.S. China's room count is 63% of all the rooms in the Asian pipeline, according to Lodging Econometrics. The pipeline for hotels to be built in Beijing is growing quickly. Shanghai also has a large pipeline, aimed to help accommodate visitors to its World Expo in 2010.

Eyeing the InterContinental

Today in China there are about 5,000 hotels with star ratings, holding about 701,700 available rooms. In comparison, the U.S. has about 50,000 hotels. This suggests to S&P that the market in China appears to have a lot of room for growth. How much? It's hard to say. By way of comparison, the U.S. hotel industry has annual revenues of about $90 billion.

S&P believes one good investment opportunity lies with InterContinental. "InterContinental is among the three largest hotel companies in China," says S&P equity analyst William Mack. He points out that the company has more than 55 hotels in China, most of which are managed or franchised. InterContinental plans to have about 125 hotels by 2008; many will likely be Holiday Inns.

"The company is expanding its China brand presence—in terms of number of rooms—by about 20% a year," says Mack, with about 30 new contract signings in 2006. "It usually takes at least a year between contract signing to opening." Mack has a 4 STARS (buy) ranking on InterContinental.

Other Good Buys

Other hotel companies with a growing presence in China include Hilton Hotels, Marriott International, and Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Each of those stocks is ranked 3 STARS (hold) by S&P.

Other U.S industry players making strides in China: Best Western, which will have around 25 hotels by the end of this year, and 4 STARS-ranked Wyndham  - by Pearl Wang    BUSINESS WEEK   27 March 2007

---

Beijing, which has lagged behind Shanghai, will catch up. With the opening in 2007 of the Regent Hotel, which will have a small luxury retail arcade, the Park Hyatt, with 12,000 square meters of retail space, and China World Place with 150,000 square meters plus new developments near Wangfujing Road, Beijing will have the locations to attract leading luxury brands - INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE    2 Dec 2004

NEWS STORIES

• Orange Country Beijing
• Beijing restrictions lifted to integrate Expats and Locals

• Big Deal: The Best Bid Wins    - China awarded right to host Olympics

• Indonesians investing in China

Key events that propel Beijing to the forefront for investment in China:

• China's entry into WTO; 
• Beijing Olympics 2008

As the country's capital and centre of political power,  the skyline of this huge city is changing with a number of landmarks.

OFFICE | MIXED USE

Demand for A-grade office buildings in Beijing is  forecasted to exceed 2.1 million sqm in 2007. As the effective supply of A-grade office buildings is limited, developers have asked for high rental prices for their buildings. Meanwhile, rapid increasing demand has gradually lowered the vacancy rate of buildings. However, greater supply pressure will mount in the latter half of this year and in early 2008.

The supply of A-grade office buildings will exceed 1.6 million sqm in the latter half of 2007 and 955,000 sqm in the first half of 2008. To be specific, the supply in CBD, the Financial Street and the 2nd East Ring Commercial Circle will make up 52.6%, 17% and 16.5% of the total.

Demand for A-grade office building remained above 200,000 sqm in the second quarter of this year in Beijing, driven by the IT and financial service industries. As the supply is limited, strong demand has again pushed up the average rent for A-grade office building in Beijing to 222 Yuan month in the second quarter, up 0.6%. Meanwhile, the sales price of A-grade office buildings maintained at 22,700 Yuan per sq m.   - 2007 July 13  

• Kerry Centre
• Guanghua Building
• eTower
• Hanwei Plaza

RESIDENTIAL 
New flats fewer by saleable area

Completed residential flats for sale had a gross floor area of 12.524 million square meters in Beijing for the 11 months ended November, a decrease of 5.3 percent from the previous year, according to a report issued by mainland statistics departments.

Beijing Municipal Department of Statistics and the Beijing Investigation Team of the National Bureau of Statistics announced that from January to November, completed housing had a gross floor 18.2 million square meters, down 0.1 percent.

The completed area of housing in Beijing rose as much as 20.1 percent in the first half, before slowing.

Saleable area of presale of uncompleted flats also decreased 2.9 percent to 14.425 million square meters GFA in the period, of which residential flats decreased 6 percent to 12.286 million square meters saleable area.

"From January to November, housing investment [in Beijing] has grown, while the construction and saleable areas of housing has slowed. Due to the strong market, the index of housing prices is still high," the report said.

It said that investment for development for the 11 months ended November rose 19.4 percent to 162.61 billion yuan (HK$172.19 billion) compared with the same period last year.

Construction area of residential housing rose 5.1 percent in the period from last year to 99.061 million square meters, of which area of new sites commenced this year decreased 9.4 percent to 21.383 million square meters year-on-year.   - 2007 December 27   THE STANDARD

RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS

• Service Flats in Chao Yang Men District
• Project:         Sunny Region
  Developer:       Ever Green
  Sunny Region is a mixed-use complex located at the Yansha commercial belt on the east side of the third ring road, home to the Lufthansa Centre. The complex encompasses an office tower, a luxurious hotel and two apartment blocks aimed at expatriate residents, with a total of 206 units on offer. The first phase is now on sale at around $2,700 per square metre. The hotel and office tower are due to be completed in June next year.
• Project:            Moon Bay
  Developer:       Beijing Jingzhun
  This massive housing estate set in a green area with a view of the Chaobai River is about 55 kilometres to the southeast of downtown Beijing. The first phase--already completed--is a collection of detached, terraced and semi-detached houses, on sale for 4,000 renminbi ($483) per square metre. A second phase will have houses ranging from 265-642 square metres at 8,000 renminbi per square metre. It offers watersports, hot springs and golf.
• Project:          The Exchange Beijing
  Developer:     Reco Meridian Property
  Conveniently located at the junction between Jianguomenwai and the east third ring road, The Exchange Beijing comprises a retail and office tower, as well as two blocks of luxurious apartments. The 272 units on offer range from 75-289 square metres. Facilities include a fitness centre, children's play room, indoor heated swimming pool, sauna and jacuzzi parlours, business centres, restaurants and mini-marts.
• Bauhania Mansions

MEDIA FACTS:

Average cost of 30" spot during prime time on Beijing TV 1,
the city's most-watched local channel*
18:20-19:35 - $4,518
19:35-19:55 - $5,482
19:55-20:35 - $4,578
20:30-21:33 - $4,819
*Based on rate card value.

Top 10 advertising brands on TV (2004)*
1. Oil of Olay - Skin Care /Toilet Soap / Liquid Soap
2. Rejoice - Hair Care /Toilet Soap / Liquid Soap
3. Crest - Toothpaste & Oral Hygiene
4. McDonald's - Fastfood & Takeaway
5. Head & Shoulders - Hair Care
6. Gai Zhong Gai - Tonic/Vitamin
7. Safeguard - Toilet Soap / Liquid Soap
8. Taita Pharm - Tonic/Vitamin
9. Pantene - Hair Care
10. Colgate - Toothpaste & Oral Hygiene
*Local channels only, based on rate card.
(Note: six of the top 10 brands are marketed by Procter & Gamble Co.)

Top 10 advertising categories on TV (2004)*
1. Shampoo & Conditioner
2. Skin Care
3. Tonic & Vitamin
4. Passenger Vehicles
5. Toothpaste & Oral Hygiene
6. Toilet Soap / Liquid Soap
7. Fast food & Takeaway
8. Laundry Product
9. Sanitary Protection
10. Communication Equipment & Service
*Local channels only, based on rate card.

Top 5 Local Channels by Ad Revenue
1. Beijing TV 1 - Variety (Satellite)
2. Beijing TV 4 - Drama & Movies
3. Beijing TV 2 - Art
4. Beijing TV 6 - Sports
5. Beijing TV 3 - Science & Education

Sources: Nielsen Media Research & AGB Nielsen Media Research