Caixin News Agency, September 20th (Reporter Li Jie) Beike announced that after more than a year of entering the real estate development field, it has won its first self operated project.
On September 20th, Chengdu launched the H12 plot of Jinjiang District Financial City Phase III, with a sold area of 15800 square meters and a starting floor price of 19200 yuan/square meter. After 82 rounds of competition with more than a dozen real estate companies including Jinmao, CMB, and Greentown, the land was finally won by Beihaojia (Chengdu) Real Estate Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Beike, for 1.076 billion yuan, with a transaction floor price of 27300 yuan/square meter and a premium rate of 42.19%.
Analysts from Zhongzhi Academy stated that this is the first time that Beike has successfully harvested land in the Chengdu land auction market, and the land has broken the record for Chengdu's floor price. According to monitoring data from the China Academy of Sciences, the previous unit price "land king" in Chengdu was the Linjiaba plot in Jinjiang District that was sold in April this year. The plot was won by Jinmao and had a floor price of 24500 yuan/square meter.
A person close to Beike told reporters that according to the nature of the plot, the project is initially positioned as a high-end product, and it is expected that the entire process will be independently operated by Beihaojia's team, including land acquisition, positioning, design, marketing, and other aspects.
It is worth noting that this is the first independently operated development project by Beike, and the outside world speculates whether Beihaojia will transform into a developer.
Regarding this, Xu Wangang, Vice Chairman of Beike Group and CEO of Beihaojia, said, "Operating a project independently does not mean that Beihaojia wants to become a real estate developer
It further stated that the main purpose of independent trading is to better verify the implementation capability of Beihaojia's C2M product solution and enhance the trust of partners in the "1+2 business model".
However, Beike's entry into the real estate development business also faces some challenges. There is a significant difference between real estate development business and real estate transaction service business. If Beike operates a project independently, it needs to accumulate experience in project management, engineering construction, cost control, and other aspects. Secondly, the real estate development industry is highly competitive and the market environment is complex and ever-changing. If Beike intends to develop in this field, it needs to constantly adapt to market changes and adjust its strategic layout, "said a real estate analyst.
According to public information, the Beihaojia business line was established in 2023. On July 12th of that year, Beike upgraded its corporate strategy to "one body, three wings" and established four business lines: brokerage, home decoration, Huiju, and Beihaojia.
Among them, Beihaojia's business is regarded by the outside world as a symbol of Beike's entry into the real estate development field. The company was registered in September 2023, and its main business is real estate development and operation as well as Internet information services.
After the establishment of Beihaojia, it recruited many talents from companies such as Longfor and Vanke to join the management team, and formed a diversified and specialized team including AI algorithms, data products, customer research, design and construction, marketing planning, etc.
It is reported that after its establishment, Beihaojia mainly focuses on project development opportunities in first and second tier cities. Since 2024, it has participated in several land auctions in first and second tier cities.
It first appeared in the land auction market on March 15, 2024. At that time, Beijing sold the Shunyi District Airport Phase 6 plot, with a starting price of 1.015 billion yuan and a land area of about 17000 square meters. The plot attracted 37 real estate companies to compete, including Beihaojia. Due to fierce competition, the plot was converted to a lottery to determine buyers, but Beike was unable to acquire the plot.
Subsequently, Beihaojia also participated in the Guangzhou land auction on June 25th, bidding on a plot of land with the number AF040134. The plot had a construction area of approximately 25800 square meters, but it was ultimately won by Poly, and Beihaojia once again failed.
The first time Shell made a profit in the land market was at a land auction event held in Xi'an on July 30th. On that day, two commercial and residential land parcels were listed for sale in Weiyang District, Xi'an City, with a total transaction price of approximately 134 million yuan. Both parcels were acquired by Xi'an Jiajiazhihe Real Estate Co., Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Beihaojia (Xi'an) Real Estate Development Co., Ltd.
Regarding the acquisition of land in Xi'an, Beike stated that the "Wei 27th Street" project in Xi'an is a multi-party cooperation project of Beihaojia under the "1+2" model. According to the needs of the partners, Beihaojia provides C2M product positioning solutions based on big data support, as well as funding and marketing services, and is not an independently developed project.
Although Beihao Home has acquired a plot of land in Xi'an, the Xi'an project is a multi-party cooperation project. Therefore, the plot of land it has acquired in Chengdu is the first project developed independently by Beike.
According to Beike, the Beihaojia team has conducted research and learning on hundreds of real estate projects in key cities across the country, and has clarified the positioning of a "data-driven residential development service platform". They will use C2M to build a new model for real estate development, providing comprehensive solutions for partners such as developers, construction agents, and homeowners with a "1+2 business model".
Entering the field of real estate development, Beike can not only supplement its agency business with revenue obtained from project development, but also gain more substantial profits than just agency business, "said Bai Wenxi, Chief Economist of IPG China. However, Beike's judgment and operational experience in investing in new housing projects are still insufficient, which tests its financial strength and financing ability.
The reason why Beike entered the real estate development field may be related to the current sluggish real estate market and lack of active transactions, which have an impact on the company's performance. Relying on rich channels and strong financial resources to enter the development field has become a direction and path for Beike to save performance and form competitive advantages, "said a real estate industry analyst.
From the perspective of Beike's performance, in the first half of 2024, the total transaction volume of Beike was 1.4689 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 16.2%. Among them, the total transaction volume of existing housing transactions was 1.0238 trillion yuan, and the total transaction volume of new housing transactions was 387.1 billion yuan.