Every reporter: Bao Jingjing Every editor: Wei Wenyi
"In Shanghai, for example, the age of first home buyers has been postponed to 37, which means that a large number of young people in the city will have a demand for rent, but the supply of products is far from satisfying. Zhou Junqiang, CEO of Micro Territory Group, recently emphasized in an exclusive interview with the reporter of "Daily Economic News": "At present, the housing rental industry has just started. ”
With the rise of "rental housing" to the national strategic level, the release of policy dividends, strong rental demand and stable investment income attractiveness have made the long-term rental apartment track enter a period of rapid development. According to the "2023 China Long-term Rental Apartment Market White Paper" released by Jones Lang LaSalle a few days ago, among the four first-tier cities, the number of immigrants in Shanghai exceeds 10 million, accounting for 40.6% of the permanent population.
"After 12 years in the housing rental industry, Micro Territory has taken root in the first-tier city of Shanghai and completed the overall transformation to heavy assets. Zhou Junqiang believes that the most important thing in 2023 is to complete the construction of the asset management platform system and truly realize the transformation.
Zhou Junqiang, CEO of Micro Territory Group Image source: provided by the interviewee
Transform from apartment operation to asset management platform
"Micro Territory began to transform into asset-heavy in 2021 and completed the overall transformation this year, and in the current economic situation slowing down, various economic indicators such as project operation are very good, representing that the model of asset-heavy transformation has been fully established, which may be our biggest achievement in 2023. Zhou Junqiang said.
"We started in the real estate business and then transitioned to rental housing and rental housing, and each time we were half a step ahead of the market. Including the transformation of real estate, and then the start of the rental housing charter model, and then to the transformation of heavy assets, that is, from apartment operators to professional affordable rental housing asset management platforms, all of which are half a step faster than the market, and the overall strategic choice has not changed. ”
Zhou Junqiang explained: "First of all, the long-term rental industry itself is an asset management or asset-heavy industry, and asset management is the mainstream business model of rental housing from the past development experience of Europe, the United States and Japan. Especially now that public REITs are liberalized, the whole logic of 'fundraising, investment, construction, management, and withdrawal' is completely valid. ”
"Secondly, whether it is a rapid economic development or a slowdown stage, the population will gather in first-tier cities, especially like Shanghai, located in the Yangtze River Delta, radiating six provinces in East China, regardless of the size of the regional population, the extension of the economy, and the expansion of the region, it means that the market has enough space. Therefore, we chose to intensively cultivate asset-heavy rental housing in Shanghai, which is actually an industry choice. ”
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, it is planned to build and raise 470,000 new affordable rental housing units, of which no less than 70% are small and medium-sized units under 70 square meters.
As of 2023, there are 9 projects in the micro-territory youth community, with a total area of 1 million square meters under construction and operation, and the total assets under operation and management exceeding 25 billion yuan. Zhou Junqiang said frankly: "The speed of obtaining projects this year is a little slower than originally expected, and I hope that in 2024, we can obtain more projects under the gradual recovery of the economy." ”
"The rental industry is just getting started"
Regarding China's housing rental market, Zhou Junqiang believes that "the industry has just started. ”
"In 2011, we set foot in the field of long-term rental, but also because we feel that real estate has entered the era of stock from increment, referring to the development experience of the United States, Europe and Japan, the real development of rental housing is the period when the economy begins to enter a stable period, and the entire real estate industry enters the era of stock. ”
On the other hand, young people have also begun to change from buying a house to renting a house, the age of marriage has been postponed, the age of buying a house has been postponed, and now the age of young people buying a house for the first time in Shanghai has been postponed to 37 years old (Beike Research Institute's "2021 Annual Report on Consumption Trends of Residential Customers"), which means that a large number of young people will have a demand for renting after entering the city.
Although the first condominium project of Micro Territory, the 1,800-room Hutai Road Micro Territory Youth Community in Central, has been in operation since September 2014, he still believes that 2015 will be the first year of the long-term rental apartment industry.
"It wasn't until 2021 that the industry began to accelerate, with a six-year trial period, and the supply of products in the market was still relatively limited. Zhou Junqiang pointed out: "At present, the supply of centralized long-term rental apartments in Shanghai is only about 250,000 units (CRIC data in November 2023), compared with more than 10 million foreign population, the gap is very large. ”
What are the challenges faced by "low-profit" long-term rental apartments?
"Long-term rental apartments are different from the logic of high leverage and fast turnover of real estate development, it is an industry that continues to accumulate and generate benefits by operation, so the chain of profit is very long, fundraising, investment, construction, management, and withdrawal, and the ability of each link can not have shortcomings. ”
Regarding the "meager profit" characteristics of the long-term rental apartment industry, Zhou Junqiang put forward his own views.
"Rental housing is a people's livelihood industry, but also a socialized and professional industry, for practitioners, a dual-value operation system is needed to reshape the asset value of rental housing. What kind of track do enterprises choose, what kind of products do they choose, and what kind of models do they use? Micro Territory starts from the youth apartment, and in the process of continuous practice, controls the construction period, cost, occupancy rate, pricing, etc., and these business parameters are highly restored, and the business logic is established. ”
Taking the "super community" of Pujiang Center as an example, the community is currently the largest rental housing community in Shanghai, with a total of 3,116 rooms in 6 buildings, the project was originally an idle industrial dormitory, and opened in October 2022 after asset upgrading.
Zhou Junqiang revealed that the renovation cost of the "super community" in Pujiang Center was well controlled, and it became the first certified talent station in Minhang District, and the occupancy rate climbed to a stable period in 8 months, maintaining an occupancy rate of more than 96%.
"Only after the establishment of business logic can we take into account specialization, refinement, and scale, and only then can we expand. Therefore, how to make money means that every chain, every ability, and every muscle in your body is healthy, and in the end, the company will be profitable. ”
In 2018, Micro Territory achieved a single store profit, and in 2020, Micro Territory achieved overall profitability. At present, Micro Territory has maintained the first place in the scale of centralized apartments in Shanghai for four consecutive years. However, Zhou Junqiang believes that the acquisition of new projects and large-scale operations may be new challenges that micro-territories need to face.
"When the scale reaches a certain stage, for example, there are currently 35,000 apartments under management, and it is expected that 4-5 projects will be completed in 2024, and about 15,000 rooms will be delivered, crossing the milestone of 50,000 units, and the challenges to operation will definitely be different. ”
Zhou Junqiang said: "Obtaining new projects is also a 'big test'. According to the original plan, there are more than 10,000 tasks to be supplemented by new projects, so 2024 is an extremely important year. ”
National Business Daily
![The young lady wore a unique chain halterneck sundress, a fashionable and charming woman[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)