The view from Shanghai

I’m holding the fort here at Chateau Sutton this week, while my boss / wife / LCN co-founder Xiaofang is on a business trip to Shanghai. Being the hard worker that she is, her first three meetings were on Sunday. Two of those meetings related to Chinese investment into UK real estate – one was with an investment manager in a Chinese Private Equity firm, and the other was with a tax adviser who advises on China-to-UK investments.

According to Wikipedia, the Shanghai metropolitan area has a population of 34 million. So it would be a little dangerous to think that the views of two people are representative of the whole city. However, the views expressed were interestingly diverse: a cautious approach from the investment manager, preferring to invest alongside major UK / European / US investment funds. And a very different message regarding private investors, and their continuing strong appetite for the relative stability of UK property.

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