Don't miss the opportunity of urban renewal!Wong Siu-mei: New World is firmly determined to invest in the Mainland

Huang Shaomei, Executive Director of New World Development and Director and Chief Executive Officer of New World China

China Housing Daily reporter Li Hongmei reported from Beijing

"We are very determined to invest in the Mainland. Wong Siu-mei, Executive Director of New World Development and Director and Chief Executive Officer of New World China, said.

In an interview in Beijing on April 10, Huang Shaomei said: "I feel that I am now facing the biggest challenge since I started my career, but the high-quality development model driven by new quality productivity that New World adheres to will help us overcome the challenge." ”

With more than 20 years of experience in the real estate industry, Huang Shaomei has witnessed the development and changes of the industry. As one of the first Hong Kong-funded enterprises to invest in the mainland, Wong Siu-mei analyzed the development strategy of New World from the perspective of a manager and how to face the new situation in the industry.

"Over the years, in the course of the development of the Mainland, New World has constantly adjusted its strategic planning. Huang Shaomei said that since 2015, we have begun to carry out a local contraction strategy, returning to key cities, and focusing on the latter in the choice of speed and quality. In her view, with the transformation of market supply and demand, the advantages of a single track and standardized operation can no longer meet the needs of market diversification and high quality, and enterprises need to keep pace with the times and "self-revolution" in the transformation.

The "three major projects" of urban village transformation, affordable housing construction, and public infrastructure construction for both peace and emergency purposes have become an important starting point for the country to build a new model of real estate development. Huang Shaomei said: "Eight years ago, New World entered the layout of urban renewal in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Now that urban renewal is in full swing, New World China will not miss such an opportunity. "Up to now, New World has invested in the development of eight urban renewal projects in mainland China, all of which are located in core cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen, with a total gross floor area of 2.7 million square meters. "These projects bring a rich land bank to New World and also ensure a balance between sales and self-ownership. In Guangzhou, we have three large-scale urban village renovation projects, with an investment of more than 20 billion yuan in a single project. ”

dialogue

China Real Estate News: New quality productivity is the hottest word since the two sessions of the National People's Congress and the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, what do you think?

Huang Shaomei: The real estate industry needs new quality productivity. I have been in the real estate industry for many years, and I have been doing real estate since I came back from Hong Kong in 1997, and I have witnessed the process of urbanization for decades, and many villages have become towns and towns have become cities. During this period, the contribution of real estate developers to China's urbanization cannot be erased. In the past era of large-scale development, the speed of China's urbanization was incredible, with an urbanization rate of 65%, which was inseparable from the large-scale and rapid development of developers.

And the current situation is also a big challenge that I have encountered since I started my career. The challenge is not real estate, but the economic downturn. Therefore, the state advocates new quality productive forces because we must break the traditional rules and regulations of the past and look for breakthroughs, new impetus and new engines.

In the past, the blind pursuit of quantity increase brought about a lack of quality. Therefore, how to make a balance and trade-off between quantity and quality, many people may have ignored this issue in the past. New World has always been a developer who seeks "quality" rather than "quantity": first, we do not have the ability to develop nationwide, and we do not want to lose control in management; second, quality is the right way for us. In addition, in 2015, New World has already transformed, and in addition to residential sales, we have started to try more businesses, such as the urban mixed-use that you see, so that we can have continuous rental income when the residential market is cold.

China Real Estate News: How do you think real estate companies can break through the new quality of productivity?

Huang Shaomei: High-quality development is the last word in the new era, and the development of new quality productivity is the internal requirement and important focus of promoting high-quality development. The new quality productivity focuses on "promoting industrial innovation with scientific and technological innovation and accelerating the promotion of new industrialization", especially in the industries represented by new infrastructure, new energy and digital economy. As a new thinking of economic development characterized by "high efficiency" and "high quality", new quality productivity also has great value for the transformation and evolution of the real estate industry.

Personally, I feel that one of the breakthroughs in new quality productivity is technological innovation and digital transformation. As a pioneer in green building, New World China has been continuously introducing and innovating new building technologies, energy-saving and emission-reducing green building technologies and intelligent digital technologies to provide practical examples for the green development of urban construction.

For example, during the construction of Tianjin Chow Tai Fook Center, we applied the BIM system to the construction process of this super high-rise building. After completing the project, China Construction Eighth Bureau, which was responsible for the construction of Tianjin Chow Tai Fook Center, used this BIM system to continuously build 25 buildings over 350 meters in China. As the first enterprise to apply this system in China, it can be said that we contributed to the subsequent implementation of this technology in China.

In my opinion, new quality productivity does not only exist in high-tech enterprises or technology fields, I think every industry needs technological innovation and digitalization in order to embrace the future and embrace the times. In this process, New World China will continue to innovate, deepen the real estate field, keep up with the pace of social development, and have a deep insight into the pain points and consumer needs of the industry, empower the industry, and help realize a better future.

China Real Estate News: As a Hong Kong enterprise, what experience do you have in risk prevention?

Wong Siu-mei: Most of the Hong Kong-funded enterprises have gone through many cycles, and everyone needs to actively help themselves in the free market, so there is a lot of experience to learn from. For example, as I mentioned earlier, our projects will not bloom all over the country, because the management will get out of control, the quality will get out of control, and we also have to pay attention to the cash flow situation.

In the current market, we are also like other developers, the house is not easy to sell, and we have encountered it all when everyone has met. But we have a good thing about it, because we have always insisted on paying equal attention to property development and management, so we have income from property rental, which is why you can see why Hong Kong developers do business well, we have been through many cycles, and we know that between commercial and residential, between rent and sales, can complement each other.

Of course, commercial real estate needs to be supported by strong funds, because the construction of a complex requires a huge amount of capital investment, and the recovery of rent is relatively slow and long-term. Therefore, we also look forward to the K11 in the mainland to bring us long-term and stable cash income after all the market entry into the market in the next two years.

China Real Estate News: What are New World's thoughts on transformation?

Huang Shaomei: The first transformation was in 2015, when New World set its sights on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta region. Because these two regions, including our Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, are the most developed and the best in terms of overall economic development and business environment. The economy is the most active and the investment value is the highest, so New World chooses to invest in these areas. The second transformation is that New World pays equal attention to sales and management, and in addition to property sales revenue, it can also generate property rental income.

Of course, different companies have different transformation directions. For New World, five or six years ago, we predicted that the urbanization process in the second- and third-tier cities would slow down and the real estate market might be in surplus, so we adjusted our strategy to focus on the development of core areas and core cities.

China Real Estate News: Under the new model of real estate development, will there be any new changes in New World's investment and land acquisition strategies?

Huang Shaomei: We are very determined to invest in the Mainland. First of all, it's hard to find a region from all over the world that can grow for 40 years of continuous investment. Although we have encountered some difficulties in the short term, there is still broad room for development in the future, and our customer base is very diverse, and the needs are also diverse, which is worthy of our continued investment in the mainland market.

In the past few years, we have spent a lot of time and energy on asset-heavy projects, and we hope that these projects can be completed as soon as possible and run them well. Property operations include leasing, investment, etc., which are very different from property sales. Selling residential properties is relatively simple, but property operations, such as running a shopping mall, require us to constantly adjust and transform according to market trends, which is a test of our skills and our team. In the future, New World will continue to focus on the dual track of real estate development and operation, and continue to look for projects suitable for development and investment in good cities more prudently.

We will also strengthen the R&D and sales of other business formats in the NWD ecosystem in the Mainland market. If you have the opportunity, you can go to our gold production headquarters and see a different Chow Tai Fook. We have production bases in Shunde and other places, almost realizing the whole machine production chain, and cooperating with museums such as the Forbidden City and the National Museum to develop a lot of national tide products, which are very popular. Chow Tai Fook Jewellery has always insisted on high quality and high quality, and has been a benchmark in the industry. In the future, we will also accelerate the pace of development in the Mainland in sectors such as insurance, medical care and education.

China Real Estate News: What is New World's strategy for real estate to enter the buyer's market, and what do you think about the future development of the industry?

Huang Shaomei: The real estate market is constantly changing, and if there is no change, it is not called a market. While there are some external influences, the biggest challenge right now is the lack of consumer confidence. But as long as we stick to the original intention, do a good job in the product, do a good job in the brand, and do a good job in the service, I think there is still this market.

Now that the relationship between supply and demand has changed, the seller's market has changed to a buying market, and there is more demand for good houses, which is one of the reasons why brand reputation is very important. New World not only has to ensure the delivery of the property, but also to ensure the quality and quality management, which has increased the confidence of customers to buy houses. One of our recent projects in Guangzhou sold more than 190 units at the opening of the market, and sold houses overnight, which shows that consumers will still choose companies and products with confidence.