Author | Anjou Cao

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

Recently, the property market has begun to take on a different atmosphere. Previously, CNOOC Shanghai Luxury Homes had a record of raising nearly 20 billion yuan in a single day; later, Sunac Luxury Homes went on sale.

On April 21, Sunac opened the second phase of Sunac Bund No. 1 Hospital. It achieved sales of 9.997 billion yuan in a single day and a 100% elimination rate, making it the top 2 single-market sales project in Shanghai this year.

At the time of the previous subscription period, the project had already set a new record for the total number of subscriptions and subscription ratios for 50 million luxury homes on the beach.

According to Sunac, the first products launched in Phase II are the Genting Mansion, which has a construction area of about 255-380 square meters, and the Genting Star Mansion, which has a construction area of about 533 square meters.

Ding Zuyu, CEO of Yiju, also visited the project. In his opinion, the average price of the project was 168,000 yuan/㎡, which is very reasonable.

“Today, the value of land on the Bund far exceeds 150,000/square meter, and second-hand housing prices in the surrounding area stand at over 200,000.” Ding Zuyu said.

Furthermore, Ding Zuyu said that the project's housing rate of more than 80%, the main area of more than 200 square meters, and functional design couldn't single out too many problems.

As a key project in Shanghai's Huangpu District and Sunac's masterpiece, the project will not only inject strength into the Shanghai luxury housing market, but will also be a powerful tool for Sunac to boost sales.

The intense subscription for Phase II of the Bund No. 1 Hospital has also succeeded in a way for insured housing enterprises to save themselves, that is, starting at the project level and introducing combat investment, thereby reviving the project and improving operations.

The second phase of the Bund No. 1 hospital belongs to the Shanghai Dongjiadu project. Trading was suspended for a while after Sunac fell into a liquidity crisis. It wasn't until the end of 2022 that Sunac brought in China's Huarong, a syndicate formed by 6 banks, and CITIC Trust. All parties reached financing cooperation and injected 12 billion yuan into the project before the project was restarted.

Among them, according to Sunac's announcement, the second phase of the Bund No. 1 Project was jointly developed by China CITIC Financial Assets and CITIC Trust Holdings.

Since the accident, many high-quality luxury homes have still attracted investment to restore hematopoietic capacity. This is a blessing in the midst of Sunac's misfortune.

Sunac also pointed out in its annual report that in 2024, nearly 100 billion dollars will be added, and more than 85% will be distributed in Tier 1 and 2 core cities. Among them, there are two new projects, Shanghai Dongjiadu and Huangpu Yalong, as well as two new projects, Beijing Sunac One Hospital and Shanghai Future Finance City, which will be boosted.

As an insured housing enterprise, Sunac is still able to gain the trust of buyers, institutions, investors, and creditors. Fortunately, project sales and debt restructuring are progressing well. It is also one of the few insured housing enterprises that have completed debt restructuring at present.

However, how to live up to the trust of investors and creditors, achieve long-term steady development, and pay off debts as scheduled, also requires Sunac to find new ways to play in a new stage of real estate development after real estate sales are popular.

CITIC Securities pointed out that the main logical line of the real estate sector has changed, and housing enterprises with real estate operation and service capabilities will be the most sustainable and growing in the future.

The cultural tourism business is beginning to blossom, or Sunac is a top priority in increasing real estate operations.

According to financial reports, Sunac's cultural tourism project operating revenue in 2023 was 5.91 billion yuan, up 29.9% year on year, and management profit turned loss into profit, up 1.57 billion yuan year on year, attracting more than 150 million visitors, and both revenue and profit reached record highs.

However, the development business, as the main source of Sunac's current performance revenue, is still facing the pain of the transition period. Sunac urgently needs to maintain the basic stability of the development business and maintain good financing channels in a market environment with weak recovery.

As an insured housing enterprise that has completed domestic and foreign debt restructuring and maintained basic operations, Sunac is expected to be at the forefront of the recovery of insured housing enterprises. Its experience in exploring the future will also inspire other insured housing enterprises. It also needs to find a reliable path to overcome the crisis, get on the path of survival, and work with other housing enterprises to tap into the second half of real estate.