Ministry eyes risk of foreign property investment

The Ministry of Commerce will step up precautions against risks from foreign investment involvement in China's property development, and guide more of it into emerging property formats, such as care services for the elderly, tourism and education, a spokesperson for the ministry said on Monday.

At a news conference addressing recent hot economic topics, Shen Danyang, the ministry spokesman, said the share of foreign investment in China's property market has not changed significantly.

Shen made the remarks when asked to comment on recent media reports that foreign property developers are increasing their investments in China.

"Broadly speaking, foreign investment is rising in China's property market, but their share in the whole market is still at a low level," he said.

Recently, a couple of joint ventures between foreign investment and domestic property developers made the headlines.

Singapore-headquartered Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd plans to cooperate with a domestic well-known real estate developer in logistics property, the China Real Estate Business reported in mid-December.

Another deal happened in late August, when global alternative asset manager Carlyle Group LP and The Townsend Group Inc announced a strategic partnership with Shanghai Yupei Group, one of the largest logistics warehouse developers in China, to invest in 17 modern warehouses in China.

According to their plan, Carlyle and Townsend will shell out $200 million to acquire equity interests in five warehouses owned by Shanghai Yupei Group and to build 12 new warehouses in the next two years. Shanghai Yupei Group will also invest $200 million, bringing the total equity commitment of the strategic partnership to $400 million.