China Vanke just paid $8.1B for a dev site

And you thought development sites in Manhattan were expensive. China Vanke just paid around $8.1 billion for a swath of land in Guangzhou — the most ever paid for buildable land in China.

The 16 parcels would allow Vanke to build around 22.6 million square feet of apartments, office space, hotels and retail, or the equivalent of eight Empire State Buildings, according to Bloomberg. This means the purchase price translates to around $360 per buildable square foot — which in fairness is still much cheaper than prime Manhattan sites.

For example, HFZ paid around $1,100 per buildable square foot for its massive (by New York City standards) High Line development site in 2015.

Kristy Hung, an analyst at BIoomberg Intelligence, told Bloomberg that given Guangzhou’s short supply of buildable land the price doesn’t seem too expensive.

China Vanke [TRDataCustom] has partnered with New York developers on a couple of local projects, including RFR Realty’s 100 East 53rd Street and Slate Property Group and Adam America’s 10 Nevins Street.

The founder of China Vanke, Wang Shi, stepped down last week. He had been criticized by shareholders after a takeover bid by insurer Baoneng Group that reportedly cost Vanke $10 billion in market value. The company’s president, Yu Liang, is taking over. [Bloomberg] — Konrad Putzier