The Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA), a property industry non-profit group which promotes real estate investment as an asset class, announced on May 30th the establishment of the APREA China Chapter, its ninth in the region.

In a statement, the group indicated that its China chapter had been established to better serve the interests of APREA’s members in China and as part of  APREA’s strategy to operate on a decentralised basis, with local identities, in all key markets in the region.

The new chapter also aims to disseminate information about the opportunities in China to the international investor community and provide the Chinese real estate community with an expanded network and greater access to research, ensuring effective delivery of services to members and a continued growth in membership.

Peter Mitchell, CEO of APREA said, “Since the launch of our first chapter, we have continued to expand our network as part of our aim to promote and represent real estate markets more effectively in each country. It has been a goal of ours to establish a chapter in China to expand and improve the linkages between Chinese and foreign property companies and investors.”

APREA formed its first member chapter in 2007, with the launch of its Hong Kong Chapter.  This was followed with the establishment of chapters in Japan, Singapore, Korea, Australia, India, the Philippines and most recently, Malaysia.

China accounts for US$1.9 trillion of institutional grade real estate, which equates to 7% of the global pool, trailing only the United States and Japan globally. Moreover, with the highest projected growth trajectory of 18% per annum over the next 10 years, China’s institutional grade real estate is expected to reach US$9.7 trillion by 2021. This would result in China accounting for 20% of global institutional grade real estate by then, up from the current 7%.

This growth stems from a combination of factors – for example, the growth rate of the overall economy, continued urbanisation, the burgeoning middle class and growth in disposable income are expected to fuel demand for institutional-grade properties such as shopping malls and office buildings.

APREA now has around 180 members, many of which have a presence in China.  Since it became known that APREA was planning to establish a chapter, a number of Chinese companies have joined as foundation members, including CITIC Capital, Forte Capital, Kailong Real Estate Investment and Stanley & Partners.

The China Chapter will be headed initially by a board of five, comprising:

•     Chris Brooke, President & CEO China, CB Richard Ellis
•     Lijian Chen, Managing Director, Head of Global Real Estate Greater China, UBS Global Asset Management
•     Stanley Ching, Senior Managing Director, Head of Real Estate Group, CITIC Capital
•     Richard David, CEO, Treasury China Trust
•     Tracy Zhang, Partner, Tax, KPMG

Lim Swe Guan, Chairman of the APREA Board of Directors, says, “The establishment of the China Chapter is a major achievement for APREA and a timely and important move, highlighting the importance of the Chinese real estate market to investors in the Asia Pacific region and globally, and the importance of China as a source of global capital.”

APREA is a non-profit industry association that represents and promotes the real estate asset class in the Asia Pacific region. It is the industry body for the suppliers and users of capital in the real estate sector.