NEW luxury houses, costing more than 50,000 yuan (US$7,692) a square meter, registered sales of 473 units in Shanghai in the first four months of this year with the majority of them situated within the Middle Ring Road and bearing a price tag of between 50,000 yuan and 70,000 yuan per square meter, according to the latest research released by the country's major real estate website Soufun.com.

The statistics covered both luxury apartments and villas.

On the supply side, 1,091 units at 10 luxury residential developments - four apartment projects and six villa developments - were released across the city during the period, with half of them located beyond the Outer Ring Road. And March, in particular, witnessed the largest supply when 483 luxury units were released, Soufun data showed.

"Sales of luxury homes picked up rather notably in March and April after extremely sluggish buying sentiment in February as nearly 70 percent of purchase deals were concluded during the two months," said Lei Qi, a Soufun analyst. "For wealthy people, the central government's latest rein-in measures might have rather limited impact on them and high-end properties will continue to be among their favorite investment to fight against inflation."

Geographically, more than 60 percent of new luxury homes sold during the four months are situated within the city's Middle Ring Road, indicating that downtown location remains a key preference among buyers of luxury homes. In terms of price, meanwhile, more than 63 percent of the luxury units sold between January and April cost no more than 70,000 yuan per square meter, followed by 34 percent of those between 70,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan per square and less than 3 percent of which were tagged for more than 100,000 yuan a square meter.

Around the city, Farglory Xuhui Garden, Park View II and Yanlord Townhouse were the three best-selling luxury residential projects in the first four months, each securing sales of more than 50 units, according to Soufun data.

Last year, a total of 2,342 units of new luxury homes, all at above 50,000 yuan per square meter, were sold in Shanghai for 36.04 billion yuan, versus 1,639 units in 2009 for 29.71 billion yuan, according to data released by China Real Estate Information Corp.

And by the end of 2010, there were already seven residential projects in the city which command an average sales price of more than 100,000 yuan per square meter, versus only three in 2009. Tomson Riviera in Lujiazui in Pudong New Area remained as the city's most costly residential development. Seventeen units at the project were sold last year for an average of 154,168 yuan per square meter, CRIC research found.

Why are more expatriates now choosing Merry Home when they decide to move to Shanghai?

Merry Home, which is one of the leading relocation service providers in the city, started serving the expatriate community in 1998. As the relocation process of an expatriate family to Shanghai can be both interesting and tiresome, we interviewed William He, head of residential leasing and a partner at Merry Home Property Agency, on how Merry Home makes the relocation process go smoothly.

Q: How did you start this service and why?

A: I started my career in a big hotel in Shanghai after graduation as a major in hotel management at Jiao Tong University. I received a lot of training on quality service and accommodation for expatriates. In the late 1990s, Shanghai's property market, which was not so developed and mature compared to now, had the substantial possibility of booming. I realized that more expatriates would come to work and live in Shanghai and, at the same time, the quality of relocation services combined with professional property leasing was not adequate at all. So I started Merry Home to help expatriates settle down smoothly. Now Merry Home has become my lifetime career and I have enjoyed it so much.



Q: What do you think is the most important factor that influences the whole relocation process?

A: Definitely the right property. Where the family stays in Shanghai is the most important thing. And also that is what Merry Home is proud of, we probably have the most powerful property information and resources in Shanghai, and we have a team of helpful experienced property consultants as well. Property is the key to the relocation process all the time and we have established six independent teams. There is one team for each of the highly recommended residential areas in Shanghai. Our teams work closely with each other to deliver a full-coverage residential leasing service. Besides the right property, school orientation and immigration services play an essential part in the relocation process and we have a strong supporting team to handle these areas.



Q: There are many local competitors and also some international companies in the market. What is the difference between Merry Home and other agencies?

A: We respect our competitors very much. Actually we are quite familiar with our competitors, their people, services, advantages and disadvantages. We never stop studying them and learning from them to help us improve. I think what distinguishes Merry Home from our competitors is the concept of combination. We combine powerful local knowledge and resources with the international perspective of quality service. It is very important to make use of both.



Q: Why are more and more expatriates choosing Merry Home to settle in Shanghai?

A: To answer this question, I need to firstly explain that we are a rather low-profile company, or in other words, we have a lot of marketing work to do. So far there are still many expatriates and potential clients who don't know us. But as we encourage and insist on long-term service cooperation with our clients, we have a very steady group of clients who have very high customer satisfaction. Most of our new clients have been recommended by existing clients. So Merry Home has a good reputation among the expatriate community. So I think a good reputation is the key reason of why more and more expatriates are choosing us.



Q: What do you foresee for the future of the relocation business in Shanghai?

A: Shanghai is the financial center of China and China is becoming increasingly important on the global stage. So it can be expected that Shanghai will always be a popular destination for expatriates. We have witnessed trends of expatriates leaving but more are coming. And in the future, there will be fewer expatriates with big budgets for housing and more young professionals without housing packages. This will be a great challenge - how to satisfy clients with a limited budget. I think we will handle it well because of the powerful local property resource database we have been building over the years.

Meanwhile, the localization of multinational companies will intensify and global communication will be easier and more cost-effective. Global relocation or worldwide property service providers will be less competitive than Shanghai-based relocation companies, and that can be expected in the coming 10 years.