海外投资者看好中国小城市购物中心

爱思英语编者按：今年前九个月，重庆等中国二线城市的家庭收入迅猛曾长。地产投资公司行政总裁任荣说中国二、三线城市的购物中心是国内地产行业的投资首选。恒隆地产主席陈启宗近期也表示，中国大陆大城市的商场是他最青睐的投资对象。

Amid intense investor focus on where China lives and works, some real-estate professionals are looking at where it shops.

Hong Kong-based property-investment firm Harvest Capital Partners Ltd. plans a push into shopping malls in China"s second- and third-tier cities as a path to growth, said Chief Executive Ren Rong. The company, which is majority owned by the state-controlled China Resources conglomerate, manages two international real-estate funds that focus on commercial and residential projects in greater China, with total capital close to US$1 billion.

"Regional shopping centers will become the next winning property sector in China for another 10 to 15 years," Mr. Ren said.

China"s commercial-retail sector is also a target for other investors eager to benefit as mainlanders use their rapidly growing income to buy lifestyle products.

U.K. real-estate development and investment firm Grosvenor Ltd., which has been selling some residential-property investments in China because the sector is producing less attractive yields than previously, has said it will focus on higher-yielding projects, such as retail properties.

Blue-chip developer Hang Lung Properties Ltd."s chairman, Ronnie Chan, recently said malls in big mainland cities are his favorite investments, adding "all provincial capitals are going to be good places to be at."

Retail properties can be a risky area for many investors. Following previous booms, many of China"s big cities have a surplus of retail space. Real-estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle estimates Beijing had a third-quarter retail vacancy rate of 16%. It also expects more supply to come onto the market there and sees little upside potential over the next 12 months in Beijing and Guangzhou.

The interest in retail property also comes amid broad uncertainty about China"s outlook. The nation"s economic growth has roared back since the global financial crisis, thanks in part to a huge stimulus package. Property prices across 70 large and midsize cities rose 3.9% in October from a year earlier, the fastest annual growth rate this year and a fifth month of rising prices. That has led to concerns that prices will weaken once the stimulus ebbs.更多信息请访问：http://www.24en.com/

Harvest believes its connections with China Resources, as well as research into local markets, will help it find properties that would hold up despite economic uncertainty.

During the first nine months of 2009, year-on-year income growth in households in second-tier cities such as Chongqing surpassed that of first-tier cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai.

Mr. Ren said also said fund raising is easier than in recent years because foreign investors now favor local managers for their funds. "Different sources of domestic capital are emerging strongly."

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