Athlete flats double in value…
Wed 30th July, 2008
By Joo Teoh
While the west might be feeling the impact of the credit crunch and lack of liquidity, it seems that the Olympics is having an impact on value of housing in Beijing. Not just any old housing however – we’re talking about the Beijing Games athlete apartments. These are being positioned as highly sort after real estate, positioned parallel to the Olympic Green – a stone throw away from the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube in downtown Beijing.
Apartments are being snapped up quickly as people rush to benefit from the Olympic boom time. The price is $4,400 per sq. metre or 30,000 local currency that’s well over double the market rate for real estate in Beijing city centre, but it doesn’t seem to be deterring purchases. A report in the China Daily estimated that 2/3 of the flats had been sold since they went on the market in December and there are only 500 left from an initial 1,300!
The Village will be renamed Dream World 2008 after the Games. And it has been a real dream bonanza for developers, as the development cost has not been much higher than ordinary housing projects. More importantly profit hasn’t been eroded as the flats haven’t required usual levels of marketing and sales promotion. The Olympics are seen as a guarantee of quality workmanship. Most buyers like the cache of living where Olympians have lived, they also like the convenience of proximity to excellent sporting facilities and the eco-credentials of the flats themselves.
Is now therefore a good time to cash in depressed prices for London apartments?
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