Capital Intensive China

Luxury residential – Trading up

  • Published 01 Oct 2009

The luxury residential market can be highly profitable for developers, but accounts for a declining share of the overall real estate market.

They look almost as if they have been plucked from American suburbia and then plonked down wholesale on the outskirts of Chinese cities. Luxury villa developments with names such as Napa Valley, Ritz Garden or Palais de Fortune are springing up in city suburbs all over China. The phenomenon isn't new, dating back to the mid-1990s or even earlier. However, in the general race upmarket, developers are diversifying their approach, creating a dizzying array of styles and features. Palais de Fortune, for example, is a collection of some 172 mansions in French style, each with 1,500 sq m of floor space. Aimed at the super wealthy, the houses come equipped with a Jacuzzi, steam room, swimming pool, cinema and 'panic room' – a hideaway from armed intruders situated behind a false wall and protected by a bullet-proof door made of two layers of steel 8 cm thick.

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