Last year the Chinese real estate investment market has reached the record breaking 209 billion RMB (US$ 30.18 billion) in transaction volumes. Overall, the number of transactions in China has increased of 11% over the last year.

Among the most active cities from the real estate point of view, Shanghai continues to rule China’s real estate investment market reaching a RMB 100 billion, which represents 48% of total Chinese investment volume, approximately 70 billion RMB more than the runner up, Beijing. In fact, the largest transaction last year was Shanghai Century Link’s (IT provider) RMB 20 billion purchase by a joint venture composed by ARA Asset Management and mainland insurer China Life, that set the all time price record for a purchase of a single asset in Shanghai.

The office, in terms of asset types, remained the most favourable investment, with a total of RMB 114 billion transacted, followed by the residential space.

This record breaking transactions in the real estate market are mainly due to the Chinese investors, that a part from investing into the overseas market, have stepped up their activity in main Chinese markets, such as Shanghai and Beijing.