Foreign capital into China’s real estate market virtually dried up in the last five years, just as the wider Chinese property market plunged into a protracted crisis.
The end of China’s property dream has stranded foreign investors with large exposure in that country. They have little or no prospect of an exit.
The largest foreign investors have adopted an “In China, For China” strategy. They have launched income-producing RMB-denominated private funds and/or list their investment trusts on Chinese stock exchanges.
Singapore’s CapitaLand Investment (CLI) and GLP have, so far, raised more than €20bn from the domestic capital market.
GLP was the first cab off the rank when, in 2017, it began creating income-producing onshore funds for domestic institutions. In 2021, GLP listed its C-REIT and successfully completed a secondary offering two years later in June 2023. In total, GLP has raised over US$14.5bn (€12.4bn) across 32 RMB vehicles.
Since 2021, CapitaLand has raised nearly RMB55bn (€6.7bn) of domestic capital across nine onshore funds.
“CapitaLand Investment’s ‘domestic for domestic’ strategy in China enables us to recycle capital and grow fee-earning funds under management through C REITs and RMB funds,” CapitaLand’s China CEO, Puah Tze Shyang, CEO of CapitaLand Investment China, told IPE Real Assets.
“The double-digit unit price increase of CapitaLand Consumption C-REIT, formerly known as CapitaLand Commercial C-REIT, since listing reflects strong investor appetite for quality, income-producing assets backed by established REIT sponsors like CLI.”
Building on the momentum, says Puah, the group has filed for a second C-REIT. The second vehicle is expected to be floated with an expected IPO size of around RMB4.8bn. CLI’s first onshore RMB Master Fund was backed by a leading domestic insurance partner.
CLI has S$30bn (€20bn) of funds under management as of 31 December 2025, with a portfolio of more than 300 properties located across over 40 cities. The group is well placed to launch more investment vehicles to tap into China’s deep pool of capital, ready to invest in well-structured diversified funds.
Recently, ESR secured two large Chinese insurance groups as cornerstone investors for its new RMB-denominated income fund with an investment capacity of RMB1.6bn.
The move follows the listing of its ESR China REIT, a vehicle that raised RMB2.2bn.
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