Executives praise expo as significant platform

Company embraces collaboration at top show in Shanghai

Cushman & Wakefield has strengthened its collaboration with business partners through the sixth China International Import Expo which was held in Shanghai from Nov 5-10.

The international real estate service provider signed more than 40 agreements for cooperation with local governments and industry leaders in the country during this year's expo, including the Guangdong Architectural Design & Research Institute and the management committee of Wujiang Economic and Technological Development Zone in Jiangsu province.

"Through these partnerships, we hope to promote the sustainable development and innovation of commercial real estate in China," said Matthew Bouw, chief executive of Cushman & Wakefield Asia Pacific.

It is the company's second time attending the CIIE. It also launched the "We are Living Change Now" campaign this year, in collaboration with Cushman & Wakefield Vanke Service, which included the release of two reports and a series of panel discussions covering topics such as low-carbon development, international consumption cities and China real estate investment trusts, or C-REITs.

"The expo is a fantastic platform to reach and collaborate with key clients and partners, so as to help drive sustainable development within the real estate industry," Bouw said.

"It greatly helped us demonstrate our market-leading position and further enhance our brand recognition," he added.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Cushman &Wakefield in China. Bouw said they are very proud to have not only kept pace with the tremendous transformation in China's commercial real estate market, but to stay ahead in the industry, evolving to meet the challenges and opportunities of this extremely dynamic market through their services and capabilities.

The company considers China to be one of its most important markets both within the Asia-Pacific region and globally, according to him.

"While China is currently facing some headwinds, the country remains the second-largest economy in the world, with the year-on-year GDP growth of 4.9 percent in the third quarter and without the interest rate or inflation challenges of many other economies," he said.

Like many other commercial real estate markets, both structural and cyclical challenges exist in China, but there remain underlying strengths: return-to-office rates are among the strongest in the world; household deposit rates are high, according to the World Bank; and alternative and new economy asset classes will continue to drive commercial real estate activities across logistics, industrial, warehousing and supply chain sectors.

According to Bouw, both globally and in China, Cushman & Wakefield will continue to invest in those areas which see growth as a result of secular and demographic trends.

"In recent years, we have built up our capability in logistics, industrial and data center real estate in response to booming online activities such as those for shopping, gaming and social contacts," he said.