境外房地产投资仍然具有吸引力
对于中国大陆和香港投资者而言, 境外房地产投资的 吸引力尚未消失 。 他们希望为其资本寻找一个安全港, 作为抵御国内风险的对冲手段, 同时, 与亚洲的低收益 相比, 境外房地产市场的投资回报率对他们也很有吸 引力 。 欧洲市场的高流动性也为战略性多样化创造了 条件 。
自 21 世纪 00 年代初期以来, 香港投资者一直将欧洲房 地产视为目标市场, 然而, 直到 2011 年 1 月, 私营投资公 司华人置业( Chinese Estates) 买下伦敦 River Court 办公大楼时, 才发生了第一次大额交易 。 同样地, 中国 主权财富基金中国投资有限责任公司成为大陆投资者 先锋, 部分原因是由于该公司于 2010 年末收购了其首 个房地产项目: 位于伦敦的 Walkie Talkie 大楼 。
2012 年, 这一趋势发生了战略性变化 。 中国政府扩大了 保险公司的投资选择范围, 将其跨国房地产购置门槛 提高至 15 % 。 此上限比例在两年内上升至 30 %, 对欧洲 房地产的争夺加剧 。
最引人注目的是平安保险和安邦保险, 平安收购了 伦敦两个写字楼项目的部分股份: Lloyds Building 和 Tower Place, 安邦保险买下了荷兰的八项商业资产 。 然 而, 中国保险公司对欧洲进行的最大一笔投资是 2014 年 6 月, 中国人寿联合卡塔尔控股( Qatar Holding) 投 资 13 亿美元收购 Canary Wharf Tower 。 其他中国企业 也 纷 纷 进 入 欧 洲 市 场, 一 些 企 业 仅 进 行 了一 两 笔 交 易, 吸收已发行的股票, 其中包括在香港上市的公司中渝 置地( CC Land) 和华润置地以及在上海上市的公司复 星国际 。
伦敦成为欧洲首要投资目的地
伦敦一直是首选投资目的地, 且目前仍然是欧洲最大 的市场, 尽管自离开欧盟的脱欧公投以来, 投资受到了 很大影响 。 一些评论人士认为, 伦敦市场仅仅是处于 过 渡 期, 但 在 脱 欧 决 定 做 出 后 的 1 2 个月中, 伦 敦 主 要 投 资额比上一年同期减半, 房价也在一直下跌 。
规模较小的投资者在继续买入伦敦资产, 新投资者也 已进入伦敦市场, 但最突出的要数中国大陆和香港投 资者, 他们通过向 REITs 、 上市开发商和跨国机构买入 资产, 从而扩大其市场份额 。 仅就伦敦而言, 过去 12 个 月中, 中国和香港投资者开展的交易总额便达 59 亿美 元, 如购买 Cheesegrater, 即 Leadernhall Building, 或 称作 Fenchurch 街 20 号的 Walkie Talkie 。
德国是欧洲仅次于伦敦的表现最好的市场, 房地产需 求不断增长, 超过英国 。 2016 年, 德国是欧洲最大的 房地产交易市场, 投资额达到 654 亿美元 。 跨境活动比 例增长到 47 %, 同时由于普遍认为欧洲安全港会从英 国转移, 德国将从中受益, 从而投资者信心可能增加,
FOREIGN PROPERTY INVESTMENTS STILL ATTRACTIVE
For Chinese and Hong Kong investors the attraction of foreign property investment has not evaporated. They want a safe home for their capital as a hedge against domestic risk and are attracted to better returns compared to Asia’ s low-yields. Europe’ s liquid markets also offers strategic diversification. Hong Kong investors have targeted European property since the early 2000s’, however, first big deal took place in January 2011 when private investor Chinese Estates bought London’ s River Court office building. Similarly, China Investment Corporation, the country’ s sovereign wealth fund, emerged as the pioneer mainland investor, partially acquiring its first property- the Walkie Talkie building in London- in late 2010.
Then in 2012 a strategic change hit the trend. The Chinese government widened insurance companies’ investment options and increased their international real estate acquisition threshold to a 15 percent share. Within two years, this ceiling rose to 30 percent and the hunt for European real estate intensified. Ping An Insurance and Anbang Insurance shone bright, with
Chinese and Hong Kong investments into Europe have now expanded 67 percent per year on average since the global financial crisis, shifting $ 44.1 billion into Europe over that time.
Ping An taking partial shares on two London offices: The Lloyds Building and Tower Place, and Anbang Insurance buying eight commercial assets in the Netherlands. But, the largest investment by a Chinese insurance company in Europe landed in June 2014 when Canary Wharf Tower went to China Life for $ 1.3 billion in joint venture with Qatar Holding. Others joined the run into Europe, some making just one or two transactions to absorb the available stock, among them Hong Kong-listed CC Land and China Resources Land, joined by Shanghai-listed Fosun International.
LONDON TOPS THE LIST OF EUROPEAN INVESTMENT DESTINATIONS
London has dominated as the destination of choice and it remains Europe’ s biggest market despite a sharp investment swoon since the Brexit vote to leave the European Union. Some commentators suggest the market is merely in a hiatus but central London volume has halved year-on-year in the 12 months since the decision and property prices are falling. Smaller players have sustained purchasing and new ones have arrived but the Chinese and Hong Kong investors stand out, enlarging their market share by buying from REITs, listed
37 THE CHINA INVESTOR