Beijing Capital Land steps up overseas expansion

Hong Kong-listed property developer Beijing Capital Land Ltd (BCL) aims to expand its overseas operations to 15 percent of its overall business next year in an effort to diversify its portfolio and stabilize performance.

With the recovery of the global economy and favorable performance of previous overseas projects, BCL will speed up its overseas strategic expansion, especially in Australia.

"The company is going to launch seven projects in Australia in the second half of this year to meet increasing demand in the market," said Hu Weimin, BCL's vice president.

According to Hu, there will be a shortage of supply in Australia's residential property market in the next three to five years.

BCL has just launched the second phase of the Carlingford project, which was introduced last year in Sydney, targeting the medium-to-high end property sector.

The second phase includes more than 180 units, most of which are two-bedroom, ranging from 70 to 90 square meters in size. So far, the project has attracted more than 2,000 purchasing registrations, more than 10 times oversubscription, according to Hu.

The company expands its operation in Australia in cooperation with Dyldam, one of the country's leading residential property developers. As the only Chinese real-estate developer that partners with a local developer overseas, BCL believes that such cooperation can ease the process of acquiring land in the country concerned and reduce risks concerning that country's laws, policies and regulations.

BCL also eyes other cities and regions that are immigration-friendly and large in market capacity. Hu said he hoped the registration rate in the overseas market could show a steady increase, with the expectation that the company could expand its overseas operations to 15 percent of its overall business.

With the signing of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, Chinese investment in Australian residential markets is expected to continue to grow in 2015.

Apart from the China-Australia deal that reduces barriers to bilateral trade, other factors also contribute to the boost in Chinese investment in Australia's property market.

"The strengthening of bi-lateral trade links, the expectation of further depreciation in the Australian dollar against the Chinese renminbi and the high demand from high net worth investors for the Significant Investor Visa scheme will sustain capital flow from Chinese investors in coming years," said Johnny Shao, executive director of Investment Properties, CBRE China.

Zhang Hao contributed to the story