Real estate deals to rise

Despite the worldwide economic slide, China's commercial property market is expected to see “a wave of deals” in the following months, generated by domestic demand rather than the foreign investments that used to be the mainstay of the country's real estate market.

But the turnover of the deals will be much smaller than in the same period last year. Transactions may exceed Rmb5 billion in 2009, well down from last year's Rmb15 billion, UK-based property advisory and research firm DTZ predicted in a recent report.

Jim Yip, director of the investment department at DTZ Shanghai expected “a transaction rebound this month” but was also quoted in the China Daily as saying that “single megabuck deals” will not happen this year.