Recently, a reporter from the Beijing News saw on the real estate rental and sales platform that there are currently many high-end residential properties with monthly rents of more than 100,000 yuan being rented, including Shanghai Tangchen Yipin and Beijing Yuanxitang, Embassy No. 1 Courtyard , Wancheng Huafu and other communities.
Why do these high-end residential buildings at the "top of the tower" appear in the rental market? In fact, in recent years, under the background of "housing for living, not for speculation", the high-end residential market has become increasingly "relying" towards rental, and the long-term rental of high-end residential buildings has become a major trend in the development of the industry. In the view of industry insiders, although the high-end residential rental market fluctuated greatly due to the impact of the epidemic in the first half of the year, the market is gradually recovering and we are optimistic about the future development of the industry.
High-end long-term rental of high-end residential buildings has become a major trend in the development of the industry. Photo/IC photo
The high-end residential market is becoming increasingly "relying" for leasing
The recent leasing industry is quite lively. One month after the first batch of three rental housing REITs were listed, on September 22, the website of Shanghai Stock Exchange disclosed that the Huaxia Fund China Resources Youchao Rental Housing Closed Infrastructure Securities Investment Fund submitted a declaration to the Shanghai Stock Exchange and was accepted. It can be said that while the construction of rental housing has accelerated, public REITs has frequently spread, opening the curtain for industry financialization. In terms of market-oriented leasing, there is also a major trend becoming more and more obvious - under the background of "housing for living, not for speculation", the high-end residential market is increasingly relying on leasing.
Take the high-end residential representative Tangchen Yipin as an example. According to the business strategy of Tangchen Group , two residential buildings are classified as sales, while the other two residential buildings are reserved for rental purposes. According to the official website of Tangchen Yipin, the double-sided Yujing tenant type of Building B is 431-434 square meters; Building D is one floor and one household, and the tenant type is about 597 square meters in a flat floor.
Beijing News reporter noticed that on the Beike House Finder platform, Tangchen Yipin, a set of finely decorated houses with southwest facing 4 bedrooms, 1 living room and 1 bathroom are being rented out, with an area of 437 square meters, 93,000 yuan/month, and the quarterly price is paid.
There are also many high-end residential properties under rental for other projects. According to the Beike Real Estate platform, there are currently 44 high-end residential rental properties with a monthly rent of more than 100,000 yuan in Shanghai; there are 56 high-end residential rental properties with a monthly rent of more than 100,000 yuan in Beijing, involving communities including Yuanxitang , Embassy No. 1 Courtyard, Wancheng Huafu, etc.; there are 72 high-end residential rental properties with a monthly rent of more than 100,000 yuan in Shenzhen. On the Lizhang platform, currently there are 8, 23 and 28 high-end residential rental housing units with monthly rents of more than 100,000 yuan in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen respectively.
Zhu Xiaohong, director of the China Luxury House Research Institute, said that the high-end residential market is not as sensitive as the market for urgent needs. Price increases and price reductions "can't take the elevator, but just take the stairs." The prices are relatively stable, and those that are not resistant to declines are basically pseudo-high-end residential buildings. "The rents for high-end residential buildings are relatively high. For some owners or investors, renting is also an income, which is better than vacant, and it does not affect the preservation of their property."
Who are the landlords and tenants for renting high-end residential buildings?
It is worth mentioning that, who are renting high-end residential buildings on the market, and who are renting them?
"In recent years, a convergence phenomenon has emerged in the high-end residential rental market, that is, high-net-worth customers may have made profits through frequent buying and selling, but in the context of "housing for living, not for speculation", more and more real estate holders will plan assets more rationally to make them a product with rental income to operate." Chen Kan, CEO of Ziru Manshe, a high-end rental brand under Ziru , said.
"Buying and renting are completely different lifestyles. Many rental groups are relatively rich, but they choose different lifestyles." According to Chen Kan, common high-end residential rentals start with a monthly rent of 25,000 yuan and an annual rent of 300,000 yuan. It can be seen that the tenants of high-end residential buildings also belong to the high net worth group in China. In the housing market, there are many houses available for this type of population. Their needs are no longer "renting a house or buying a house to live in", but more about how to maximize the quality of living.
In the view of Zhao Ran , director of the ICCRA Housing Rental Industry Research Institute, high-end rental housing products can be divided into decentralized high-end residential buildings and centralized service apartments. The source structure of the two is quite similar, basically mainly foreign executives working in China, domestic private business owners and young new rich people. Under the influence of the epidemic, the proportion of domestic customer sources is constantly increasing.
senior analyst Huang Hui, Shell Research Institute, pointed out that from the perspective of tenants' characteristics, this year the number of high-end serviced apartment tenants has shown a trend of decreasing the proportion of foreign tenants and an increase in the proportion of post-90s tenants.
In terms of rent, according to ICCRA's rent monitoring of serviced apartments in first-tier cities, the average rent of high-end rental housing products in the first half of this year increased by about 8.6% compared with the same period in 2021, and the average occupancy rate did not change much.
"Although high-end rental housing products have a share of less than 7% in the overall rental housing market, there is indeed market demand. Compared with ordinary rental housing products, from the operational perspective, although the rental level is at a high level, the operating cost is also relatively high. Therefore, the gross profit margin is around 65%, which is lower than that of ordinary rental housing products." Zhao Ran said.
After the epidemic stabilizes, the high-end rental market has gradually recovered
So, what trend has the high-end residential rental market shown since this year? Huang Hui analyzed that compared with 2019 before the epidemic, the occupancy rate of high-end serviced apartments has still declined since the beginning of this year, but under the influence of the epidemic, tenants' requirements for living safety and quality have also been increasing, and the demand for serviced apartments is still strong.
focuses on decentralized high-end residential rental. According to Chen Kan, from the perspective of first-tier cities, under the influence of the epidemic in the first half of this year, the number of foreigners decreased, and the number of domestic high-end residential customers also decreased. Therefore, the high-end residential rental market fluctuated greatly due to the epidemic.
"However, compared with the short-term rental market, the long-term rental market will be less affected. As for Ziru Manshe, although it is also affected by the epidemic, its overall operation is relatively stable. The reason is that there are not many decentralized service institutions that have reached a certain size and scale, and specialize in providing high-end services. The occupancy rate of Manshe can reach more than 97% during peak periods. This year, it has slightly decreased due to the epidemic, but it is also between 90%-95%. "Chen Kan said: "With the stability of the epidemic, the occupancy rate is currently steadily increasing and is expected to recover to more than 95%. "
At the same time, in response to the future development of the industry, Chen Kan said: "High-end residential rental is a sunrise industry. The sunrise industry does not represent a huge profit-making industry, but a relatively hard, trivial and service-oriented industry that requires time precipitation to polish out brand value and service premium. For industry practitioners, there are challenges in the short term, but there are greater development opportunities in the long run."
Huang Hui pointed out that unlike blue-collar or white-collar rental housing, high-end rental housing serves more sub-groups such as Jinling and short-term business travelers. This group focuses on living experience and service quality. With the future consumption upgrading and the improvement of quality demand, the market space for high-end residential rental will also be greater. For institutions, it is necessary to improve service operation capabilities and quality control capabilities, and extend the scope of post-rental service from the perspective of meeting the tenant's living experience to enhance customer trust.
Beijing News reporter Zhang Xiaolan
editor Yang Juanjuan proofreading Liu Baoqing
