China in your hand
The Olympics may boost foreign interest in China to new levels
The upcoming Olympics, which start on Sunday August 10th, have boosted interest in China as a viable overseas investment destination.
China have vowed not to see Olympic investment, standing at around £200 million, wither away after the games have finished, so the economy stands to be permanently boosted.
Buying in China could be a minefield as the country's property laws are not easy to see through if you have never been there or are not familiar with local laws and customs.
Buying restrictions
Paul Collins of international property magazine Buy Association said that there are some restrictions on sales of Chinese property to foreigners, mainly to prevent the market becoming flooded with international investors and putting properties out of Chinese locals reach.
Usually the restrictions mean that you can only buy one property, and it must be a particular type. There are properties available however, and they can be very good as investment purchases.
Investment climate
According to a recent report by WorldBank, 120 cities and regions within China have been surveyed for their overall investment climate.
Taken into account were differences in the importance of state-owned enterprises in local industries, access to bank loans and overall adequacy of local transport and power.
According to the report, some regions in China have performed better than others, with the Southeast, comprising Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, having the best investment climates in the country, followed by Bohai (Shandong, Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei).
The Northwest regions of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Neimenggu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Gansu, and Xinjiang, were ranked last.
The Knight Frank 2008 Report indicates that China's first tier investment cities are Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
However, with surging land prices and the lack of urban land availability in those cities, property developers have gradually shifted their attention to China's second tier cities instead, many of which are in the Bohai Rim Region.
Commercial property
Foreign individuals and foreign companies can buy commercial real estate in China only if they do so in the name of a Chinese corporation either as a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE) or Joint Venture (JV) established for this purpose.
To find out about the legalities of buying property in China, visit www.hg.org/realest.html.
Mr. Collins of Buy Association advises that the best way to research property investment in China is to link up with specialists who are connected to officialdom, as this will provide information on where the next promising developments are likely to be constructed.
Investor portal Totallyproperty.com has said that the prospects for the Chinese property market have been enhanced by the government's spending of much of the proceeds of its economic growth on developing the infrastructure.