This report focuses on a 20-question questionnaire survey conducted by Cushman & Wakefield with Grade A office landlords on the Chinese mainland.
The survey questions focused on the landlords' perspectives, and the answers provide the latest thinking of prime office landlords in the region on the market conditions and on their current and future office asset management strategies to achieve commercial success.
A Change Is Needed
- Given market conditions, the majority of Grade A office landlords on the Chinese mainland currently feel a change is needed in their office building asset management strategy
- In terms of their leasing strategy, most office landlords will focus on refining their tenant profile mix
- Within this mix, the ratio of domestic companies is expected to continue to expand in the near future, with professional services, finance and TMT being the industries to lead the mix in terms of occupied space
Asset Management
- Refinement in both hard and soft asset management services will play a large role in driving Chinese mainland Grade A office asset management strategy change
- Facilities within prime office buildings in the region will also to be targeted for change with most landlords advancing improvement in the tenant-focused amenities that they provide
- Assigning more portfolio space to amenities will undoubtedly allow a prime office building on the Chinese mainland to remain market competitive
Sustainability
- Improvement in Grade A office green offerings, features and credentials will continue on the Chinese mainland and this change will be driven by a greater number of landlords now being aware of the concept of ESG and the fact that many more of their tenants have ESG reporting goals to meet
- Landlords in the region are looking at a number of ways to achieve improvement, including gaining more green certifications, assigning more wellness and wellbeing space for their tenants and installing more energy and water saving equipment
Optimal Prime
- When looking at whether to adopt an asset-light asset management business model or not, there is currently a 50-50 split between those Grade A office landlords on the Chinese mainland that are looking to adopt and those that are not
- With cost being a top priority for Grade A office landlords on the Chinese mainland and these same landlords desiring an optimal prime solution, we expect an asset-light asset management business model to be adopted by more landlords in the region in the future
