Shenzhen private enterprises make a move: 1.6 billion yuan purchase of a landmark project in Shanghai's core commercial district

Cailian Press, March 9 — (Reporter Wang Haichun) The office building Xinhao Tower in the core area of Shanghai has changed hands again.

Cailian Press reporters learned from multiple independent sources that a private enterprise in Shenzhen purchased the project for 1.62 billion yuan.

Xinhao Tower is located at No. 233 Taicang Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, adjacent to the Xintiandi commercial area and Huaihai Road shopping street, in the heart of Shanghai’s commercial district. The project is a Grade A office building developed by Singapore CapitaLand, completed in 2005, with a total construction area of approximately 43,400 square meters.

“We understand that this transaction was not just signed recently but has already completed the transfer,” a real estate industry insider told reporters.

It is understood that last year, the market valuation of the project was 2.3 billion yuan. Based on this, the current transaction price of about 1.62 billion yuan represents a 30% discount.

Another industry insider said that the deal was conducted through a share transfer method, and details such as payment methods are not convenient to disclose at this time.

In fact, because Xinhao Tower is located in Shanghai’s core commercial district with a prominent location advantage, the project has undergone multiple transactions since its completion.

In January 2005, Australia’s Macquarie Group’s MGPA acquired a 95% stake in Xinhao Tower for $98 million and renamed the project Platinum Tower. At the time, this was regarded as the first overseas real estate fund acquisition of a mature property in Shanghai. In 2007, Macquarie transferred the project to the German fund SEB Immobilien.

Public records show that in 2010, Capital Strategies and Chinese Property purchased Xinhao Tower from the German fund for about 2.4 billion yuan; later, ESR’s Singapore-based ARA Asset Management bought it in September 2015 for 2.85 billion yuan.

A senior executive from a real estate firm pointed out that currently, the prices of large-scale real estate assets are at a low point, providing a good opportunity for well-funded investors and owner-occupiers to enter the market. The large investment by a private enterprise from Shenzhen in Shanghai’s commercial property market reflects their confidence in Shanghai’s future development prospects.

谢晨, head of research at CBRE China, said that due to ongoing market adjustments and the supply-demand pressure in the office leasing market, the overall large-scale property investment market will continue to be cautious in 2025, with the number of transactions falling to 354, a 30% decrease year-on-year. Amid the decline in transaction volume, buyers in the large-scale market currently have more pricing power.

Lu Qiang, Executive Director of the Capital Markets Department at Cushman & Wakefield East China, explained that after several years of adjustment, Shanghai’s large-scale real estate transaction market shows clear signs of bottoming out and stabilizing. In 2025, Shanghai recorded 75 transactions totaling 42.4 billion yuan, a slight decline year-on-year, but the market structure continues to optimize, with a further consolidation of the domestic-led pattern and a significant increase in participation by non-institutional investors, building momentum for future market recovery.

“We understand that about 14 billion yuan worth of large-scale transactions have already been tentatively signed, and these deals are expected to be completed gradually in the first half of 2026, with market liquidity gradually released,” a real estate industry insider revealed.

Regarding the future,谢晨 believes that 2026, as the start of the “14th Five-Year Plan,” will focus on stimulating domestic consumption and promoting industrial upgrading and transformation. After years of adjustment, the industry expects downward pressure to ease.

“Looking ahead to 2026’s commercial office market, although ongoing supply pressures may have some impact, overall supply and demand are improving. Prime properties in core districts of first-tier cities like Shanghai remain highly attractive to both owner-occupiers and investors. Additionally, smaller-scale projects with good transportation links and stable yields may attract more buyers and become important targets in the investment market,”谢晨 said in an interview.