HKRI: Real estate policy helps industry

Tang Moon Wah, executive director of HKR International Ltd and chief executive officer of HKRI Taikoo Hui. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The central government's efforts in taming the residential property market to prevent excessive speculation are beneficial to the whole industry, and will present opportunities to developers like HKR International Ltd, said a senior executive of the Hong Kong-based property developer.

"I totally agree with what our leadership said, that houses are built for living in instead of speculation," said Tang Moon Wah, executive director of HKR International Ltd and chief executive officer of HKRI Taikoo Hui.

"From the economic perspective, speculation in the real estate market will create a lot of bubbles, further leading to problems in the banking system and financial system," Tang told China Daily.

He believed the central government's gesture will guide the industry back in the right direction, which is to focus on quality rather than quantity.

"HKRI has been sticking to the quality of our projects over the years, and our strengths in developing residential properties will benefit from a well-regulated and orderly market," added him.

According to Tang, the HKRI Taikoo Hui will hold a grand opening early next month, one example of how HKRI develops property projects with high standards through 15 years of effort.

The project, located in Shanghai's bustling West Nanjing Road, carries quite a few unique features including the Starbucks Coffee Company's first international roaster and reserve tasting room and a Disney store with up to 30 percent of its stock as exclusive items.

"In the past 10 years, we have witnessed the city's metro line network become the world's longest, the city's total office space snowball 213 percent, and its total office demand swell from 478 billion yuan to 1.69 trillion yuan. Such development could only possible happen in China, in cities like Shanghai," said Tang, explaining the reasons the company chose Shanghai as HKRI's headquarters for the Chinese mainland.

Tang said the group will continue to look out for development and investment opportunities in the Chinese mainland, especially in the Yangtze River Delta region, such as Hangzhou, Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, and Wujiang in Jiangsu province.