Mulling a mall move

The We-Life Future Plaza is a newly opened shopping mall and entertainment complex in northeastern Beijing. China is expected to have more than 10,000 shopping malls by 2025 as construction of such facilities booms across the country. [Photo / China Daily]

Huge boom in shopping centers predicted across the nation

The booming shopping mall construction across the world's second-largest economy will take the total amount of malls in China to more than 10,000 by 2025.

It comes from a belief that shopping centers will exceed office and residential projects to become the cash cow for developers.

The glitzy and trendy Huaihai Road in Shanghai has provided a snapshot of the ongoing retail construction frenzy. As one of the busiest streets in China's financial hub, Huaihai Road's profile and retail space rental have both increased after revamping and reopening of shopping malls owned by the Hong Kong developers of New World China Land Ltd, Sun Hung Kai Properties and Wharf (Holdings) Ltd, said analysts.

Nationwide, there are about 3,100 shopping malls scattered across the country. This figure is estimated to exceed more than 10,000 by 2025, Guo Zengli, director of Mall China, which is affiliated to the China Commercial Real Estate Commission, was quoted as saying by Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News.

"In spite of the changing economic environment, the wealth of the nation's middle class keeps growing steadily, but their demand to buy things is far from being sufficiently met," said Joe Zhou, head of research for Jones Lang LaSalle East China.

A recent HSBC forecast shows that 93 million Chinese households will join the middle class - the main driving force behind national purchasing power - by 2015. According to Forbes' Chinese Mass Affluent Group Report 2013, the country's middle class is defined as a group of people having financial assets worth between $100,000 and $1 million.

"Over the past four years, the total financial assets of the Chinese middle class remained at 1.33 million yuan per capita," said Shi Guowei, research director of Forbes China and joint writer of the report.

The We-Life Future Plaza is a newly opened shopping mall and entertainment complex in northeastern Beijing. China is expected to have more than 10,000 shopping malls by 2025 as construction of such facilities booms across the country. [Photo / China Daily]

The fast-growing middle class and their burgeoning buying power are making the idea of opening shopping centers on the Chinese mainland increasingly attractive. The China Chain Store and Franchise Association expects the number of mainland malls to jump 40 per cent to more than 4,000 by 2015.

The construction of shopping malls will exceed office buildings and residential properties as the most profitable type of property investment on the mainland over the next two to five years, reported the South China Morning Post, citing research by ARA Asset Management, a property investment firm partly owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing.

The We-Life Future Plaza is a newly opened shopping mall and entertainment complex in northeastern Beijing. China is expected to have more than 10,000 shopping malls by 2025 as construction of such facilities booms across the country. [Photo / China Daily]