CX Daily: China’s Slumping Office Rental Market Faces a Steep Climb in 2023

Office buildings /

In Depth: China’s slumping office rental market faces a steep climb in 2023

For the past few decades, the clusters of office buildings that reach into the sky above major Chinese cities have served as a symbol of the country’s economic rise. Over the past year, however, those same structures have begun to look like more of a drag.

China’s market for office space did well during much of the pandemic. After an initial slump in the first year Covid emerged, the market bounced back big in 2021, underpinned by strong demand from tech and finance companies.

Analysts had predicted a strong 2022 as well. Instead, corporate demand for office space collapsed after the first quarter. Even China’s biggest cities, where demand is usually the strongest, were not spared.

China-U.S. /

Blinken’s planned visit to Beijing was ‘ill-timed’ given U.S. actions against China, diplomat says

China’s Ambassador to France said conditions weren’t appropriate for a planned visit from the U.S. Secretary of State to China given how the U.S. has been carrying out “anti-China activities” in both the military and technology fields, leading to worsening bilateral relations even before the recent balloon incident.

“The current atmosphere is not suitable for a visit,” Ambassador Lu Shaye said during a Monday interview with French TV channel LCI, while calling out U.S. actions in recent weeks such as furthering trade sanctions against Chinese technology companies, increasing arms sales to the island of Taiwan and strengthening military cooperation with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.

FINANCE & ECONOMY

Gold /

Global gold demand soars in 2022 amid search for safe havens

Global gold demand surged to an 11-year high in 2022, lifted by record buying by central banks and vigorous retail investment, sparked largely by a search for safe-haven assets during a year plagued by geopolitical shocks and rampant inflation.

Annual demand for bullion — excluding over-the-counter trading — soared 18% year-on-year to 4,741 tons last year, hitting its highest level since 2011, according to a World Gold Council (WGC) report published Jan. 31.

Bonds /

Developer Times China halts bond trading amid debt restructuring talks

Property developer Times China Holdings Ltd. is working on a proposal to restructure nearly 11 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) of onshore bonds, people familiar with the matter told Caixin, the latest casualty of a credit crunch engulfing the country’s real estate sector.

Trading in the bonds, which were issued by the developer’s subsidiary Guangzhou Times Holdings Group Co. Ltd., was halted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Wednesday after an application to the bourse, according to a filing dated Tuesday. The suspension, which affects 10 separate bond issues, indicates that a debt restructuring plan is being put together, market participants said.

Quick hit /

China outlines responsibilities for developing Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Zone

BUSINESS & TECH

An Air China plane departs from Sanya airport on Jan. 7, 2023.

Airlines /

China slams the door on ‘1 yuan airfares’ spawned by the pandemic

China’s top state assets administration imposed minimum prices for tickets on seven state-owned airlines, slamming the door on ultra-low-cost promotions launched as travel plunged during the pandemic, Caixin learned from several airlines.

The State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) told airlines not to sell tickets on main routes for less than 60% of full price. While Caixin didn’t find an official document on the SASAC website, the airlines confirmed receiving verbal notice of the policy.

AI /

Shanghai bourse probes AI firms’ stock surge on chatbot fervor

Two listed Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firms clarified that their business is unrelated to ChatGPT and its developer U.S. startup OpenAI after the fervor around the chatbot sent their shares soaring, prompting questions from Shanghai’s bourse.

Shares of CloudWalk Technology Co. Ltd. and Beijing Haitian Ruisheng Science Technology Ltd. have traded up by around 120% and 190%, respectively, this year. AI-related stocks have garnered intense investor interest in China amid speculation about potential Chinese alternatives to ChatGPT, a bot designed to provide realistic answers to questions using technologies like deep learning and natural language processing.

Quick hits /

Yum China profit slumps 90% in fourth quarter on Covid disruptions

China tech giant Meituan to hire 10,000 to counter ByteDance challenge

Long Read /

Is someone stealing Chinese New Year?

GALLERY

Hot TV drama makes city a star

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