Beijing replaced Shanghai as the most popular city for foreign investment in block trading in the area of office buildings for the first time last year, said Cushman and Wakefield on Wednesday.
Data from the real estate service firm showed foreign buyers contributed 15.5 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) in transactions in block trading of Beijing's office buildings, which accounted for 30 percent of the capital city's total and almost doubled the proportion of Shanghai.
Last year, Beijing's volume of block trading in the area of office buildings surpassed 50 billion yuan and accounted for 20 percent of the country's total, which was 204.7 billion yuan, down 30 percent from 2019.
Office as well as research and development center transactions accounted for 54 percent of the market, of which those buying for their own use contributed more than 60 percent of the total. Tongzhou and Fengtai continued to become investors' focus of attention in non-core business areas, according to Cushman and Wakefield.