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For years, Chinese property has been a sure bet for savvy investors looking to ride the country's economic surge.
多年来，精明的投资者一直把房地产市场作为分享中国经济盛宴的一张最稳妥的入场券。
Now, some of the best-known names in Chinese investing are cutting back, at least for the present.
现在，一些最知名的投资者已经开始从房地产市场撤资，至少目前如此。
Since September, Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, widely considered Asia's richest man, has sold office and shopping-mall projects in the cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou. Businessman Richard Li, his son, sold a prime piece of real estate, a mixed-use complex in Beijing's Sanlitun shopping district, for US$928 million in early April.
去年9月份以来，被视为亚洲首富的香港大亨李嘉诚卖出了位于上海和广州的写字楼和商场项目。他的次子李泽楷(Richard Li)则在今年4月初以9.28亿美元价格出售了位于北京三里屯的一处综合物业。
Soho China Ltd., which develops property only in Beijing and Shanghai, sold two office projects in Shanghai in February for 5.23 billion yuan (US$837 million) in total.
今年2月份，只在北京和上海两地发展房地产项目的SOHO中国有限公司(Soho China Ltd.)以人民币52.3亿元（约合8.37亿美元）的价格出售了上海的两个写字楼项目。
The move to sell real-estate projects 'is looking like a really smart call right now,' said Colin Bogar, managing director of real-estate private-equity firm MGI Pacific. Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., one of the elder Mr. Li's main property businesses, didn't respond to several requests for comment.
房地产私募股权投资公司MGI Pacific董事总经理博加尔(Colin Bogar)称，目前看来，抛售房地产项目确实是明智之举。李嘉诚旗下的和记黄埔有限公司(Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.)没有回复记者的置评请求。
The Chinese property market appears to be softening along with the rest of the country's economy. Developers are cutting residential prices in small cities as economists warn of overcapacity. Many property companies are also facing tightening credit, lower returns, slower demand for homes and intensifying competition amid a deepening supply glut.
在中国经济整体走弱的背景下，房地产似乎也不能独善其身。随着经济学家警告房地产市场供应过剩，开发商已开始下调小城市的住宅销售价格。在供应过剩加剧之际，许多房企还面临信贷紧张、回报率下降、需求减少和竞争激烈的困局。
According to property-consulting company Savills China, the average selling price of Grade A office space in Shanghai reached 60,000 yuan per square meter in March, up 1.4% from a year earlier and up 65% since March 2010.
据地产咨询公司第一太平戴维斯中国(Savills China)介绍，今年3月份，上海甲级写字楼每平米售价达到人民币6万元，较上年同期上涨1.4%，较2010年3月上涨65%。
But rents haven't grown as quickly. In Beijing and Shanghai, average gross yields--annual returns on investments before tax--on office buildings have fallen from a year earlier, according to data from property agency Cushman & Wakefield.
但租金的上涨速度却没那么快。地产咨询机构高纬环球(Cushman & Wakefield)的数据显示，北京和上海两地写字楼的毛收益率（税前年投资回报率）已较上年下降。
'Such low rental returns have caused some investors to reconsider their investment options in this sector and geographical area,' said Kent Fong, acting head of capital markets at Cushman & Wakefield in Shanghai.
高纬环球驻上海的资本市场主管Kent Fong说，如此之低的租金回报已经促使部分投资者重新考虑在这一领域和地理区域上的投资选择。
Overall, investment in China's commercial real-estate markets totaled $3 billion in the first quarter of this year, down 18% from the same period a year earlier, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, a property consultancy. The decline is the biggest since the fourth quarter of 2012, when investment fell 57%.
据地产咨询公司仲量联行(Jones Lang Lasalle)称，今年第一季度，中国商业地产市场的总投资规模为30亿美元，较上年同期下降18%。这是2012年第四季度以来的最大降幅，当时中国商业地产的投资规模下降了57%。
Housing sales in the first quarter fell 7.7% compared with a year earlier, totaling 1.11 trillion yuan, according to government data.
中国政府公布的数据显示，中国第一季度的住宅销售额同比下降7.7%，至人民币1.11万亿元。
Of course, for every sale there is a purchase, often by investors who view the current dip as a chance to buy low. 'We see a wonderful opportunity,' said Humbert Pang, managing principal for Gaw Capital Partners, a private-equity firm.
当然，有卖就有买，买方通常是将当前价格下探视为逢低买进机会的投资者。私募股权投资公司基汇资本(Gaw Capital Partners)执行合伙人彭庆邦(Humbert Pang)表示，他们认为现在是买入良机。
His firm purchased Pacific Century Place, the retail, office and serviced- apartment project in Beijing's Sanlitun that the younger Mr. Li sold this month.
基汇资本本月从李泽楷手中购买了位于北京三里屯的零售、办公、酒店式公寓项目盈科中心。
The sellers have had fortunate timing before. In 2004, Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa developed a 40-story Shanghai office tower called The Center and sold it to Hong Kong-based private investor Asia Pacific Land in June 2008 for 4.9 billion yuan. Asia Pacific Land sold it for 4.4 billion yuan in March 2011, but managed to offset the loss from gains in the Chinese currency, according to people familiar with the matter at that time.
Imaginechina/Associated Press2008年，李嘉诚旗下的和记黄埔出售了上海世纪商贸广场。房地产卖家过去也遇到过好时机。2004年，李嘉诚旗下的和记黄埔开发了40层的上海世纪商贸广场，并于2008年6月以人民币49亿元的价格将其出售给总部位于香港的私营投资公司亚太置地(Asia Pacific Land)。知情人士称，亚太置地于2011年3月将该项目以人民币44亿元的价格出售，但人民币汇兑收益帮助该公司抵消了售价上的损失。
Soho China also sold its projects for more than it paid. It paid a total of 4.07 billion yuan in 2011 for the two projects that it sold, still unfinished, for 5.23 billion yuan in February. Sales of entire buildings by the company are rare; in the past, it has focused on selling individual office units.
SOHO中国上述两个项目的售价也高于该公司的买入价。该公司2011年收购这两个项目时共出资人民币40.7亿元，这两个尚未完工的项目今年2月份的售价为人民币52.3亿元。SOHO中国很少出售整栋大楼，该公司过去主要开发和销售商业地产。
More property developers are going abroad in search of fatter profit margins, according to Zhang Xin, Soho China's chief executive officer. At a forum this month, she highlighted the high cost of financing in China, saying that while rental returns from projects in Beijing and Shanghai are only 5%, interest on bank loans is 7%. 'I lose 2%,' she said.
SOHO中国的首席执行长张欣说，有更多的房地产开发商正在到国外寻求更高利润率。在本月举行的一个论坛上，她强调了中国目前很高的融资成本。她说，北京和上海房地产项目的租金收益率仅为5%，而银行贷款利率为7%，她因此有2%的损失。
She added that in Manhattan, the rental yield is 5% but the cost of financing is only 2%. In a private purchase lastyear, Ms. Zhang bought a stake in the General Motors building in Manhattan with a partner from Brazil.
她补充说，在曼哈顿，租金收益率为5%，但融资成本仅为2%。去年，张欣和来自巴西的合作伙伴收购了曼哈顿通用汽车大厦(General Motors Building)的股份。
Ms. Zhang told The Wall Street Journal last month that the firm has cash totaling 22 billion yuan ready, waiting for a market correction. 'We saw the first wave of credit crunch last summer,' she said. 'We already sensed that it is going to get worse and liquidity is going to dry up.'
张欣上个月对《华尔街日报》表示，SOHO中国共计有人民币220亿元现金，正在等待市场出现调整。她说，去年夏天看到了第一轮信贷紧张行情。她说，该公司已经感觉情况会变得更糟，流动性将会枯竭。
In October, the elder Mr. Li, through his Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong (Holdings) vehicles, sold the 31-story Oriental Financial Center in Shanghai's Lujiazui district for US$1.16 billion to Bank of Communications Co. and Everbright Group. A month earlier, the same units said they were selling Metropolitan Plaza, a shopping mall in Guangzhou, for 3 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$387 million).
Rolento Photography for The Wall Street Journal2013年10月份，李嘉诚以11.6亿美元的价格出售了上海陆家嘴31层楼的东方汇经中心。去年10月份，李嘉诚通过旗下和记黄埔(Hutchison Whampoa)和长江实业(Cheung Kong (Holdings))以11.6亿美元的价格将上海陆家嘴31层楼的东方汇经中心(Oriental Financial Center)卖给了交通银行(Bank of Communications Co.)和光大集团(Everbright Group)。此前一个月，和记黄埔和长江实业表示将以30亿港元（合3.87亿美元）出售广州购物中心西城都荟(Metropolitan Plaza)。
Not everyone thinks that values have peaked. Mr. Pang, of Gaw Capital, said the US$928 million price tag for Pacific Century Place translates to less than 34,000 yuan per square meter. 'You can't find another piece of land at the same location at that price,' he said, adding that his firm is 'good at extracting value.'
并非所有人都认为房地产价值已经见顶。基汇资本的彭庆邦说，盈科中心9.28亿美元的价格相当于每平米不到人民币3.4万元。他说，在相同地理位置上找不到另一块地有同样的价格。他补充说，他的公司善于提取价值。
Esther Fung
Esther Fung
