JLL brokered the sale of Shanghai Jiayu Yunjing Rental Housing Project

Shanghai, 15 September 2022, – JLL (NYSE: JLL) successfully assisted R&F Group and KWG Group Holdings in selling their Jiayu Yunjing rental housing project, located in Xinjiangwan, Yangpu District, Shanghai, to a foreign investor.

This asset was jointly developed by R&F Group (HKSE: 2777) and KWG Group Holdings Limited (HKEX: 1813), and is operated by R&F Shanghai.

The sale covers about 42,000 square metres, including three high-quality new buildings, which will be managed by a new property management company “Blinq”. It aims to provide around 560 apartments and high-quality accommodation services, targeting mid-to-high-end markets including employees from enterprises in the neighbouring areas of Wujiaochang, Xinjiangwan and along the route of Subway Line 10 in Shanghai.

Based on the notion of “Better Living, Better Life”, Blinq aims to build a high-end community. Blinq’s first 100 rental apartments were opened in September 2022, and the remaining 400 apartments will be made available in 2022 Q4 and 2023 Q2. The Xinjiangwan area is seeing a steady growth in customer demand for this market due to a large number of nearby leading technology companies and universities.

Eric Pang, Head of Capital Markets, JLL China, commented, “I would like to congratulate both parties on the successful transaction. JLL will continue to provide our best investment advice, professional service, foresight in the market, and global resources to help buyers and sellers reach consensus and achieve their business vision.”

Sun Ling, Head of Capital Markets for JLL East China, added “China continues to introduce favourable policies for the rental housing sector. We have seen a strong interest from more diversified investors in this market. As housing REITs are being ushered in, the rental housing market will become more active in the future.”

According to JLL’s China rental housing white paper New Journey: Onwards and Upwards, China's rental housing market is progressing toward maturity following a period of market reshuffling and fragmentation during 2019-2020. The rental housing sector accounted for 7.6% of the total investment in real estate in China in 2021 (by number of projects) and increased to 15% by 2022 Q2. Investors are in favour of rental housing assets as the sector shows overall resilience, stabilized returns, and good anti-cyclicality. In addition, this sale has once again shown Shanghai as a popular global investment destination.