Having arrived by car, they entered the Shahe Golf Club.

The club's name had already been changed, and in the distance, a tall building under construction could be seen, resembling the Spring Sprout Tower from his previous life. It was also an office building invested in by Su Yehao, intended for rental income in the future.

As long as it involved investment projects in the mainland, several large and medium-sized banks would do their best to meet Su Yehao's needs, granting him nearly unlimited credit lines.

Investing in some real projects made everyone happy; it was free money if he didn't use it.

The wind power plant project that Su Yehao had mentioned earlier was projected to have a total investment of three to four hundred billion RMB over the next ten years, mainly relying on banks to help foot the bill.

By using the bank's money to build wind power plants, then mortgaging them back to the bank for continued loans, his business had reached a point where he no longer needed to foolishly take out real money.

This also meant that with Su Yehao's current assets, he could actually support a massive commercial empire with total assets of trillions of dollars. This was why he continuously invested in super projects like the Three Gorges Dam, the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, and wind farms.

With him present, others could only play supporting roles.

At that moment, Su Yehao, enjoying the air conditioning, asked curiously, "The housing prices in Pengcheng seem to be rising quite nicely this year. What's the average price now?"

A local developer, eager to seize the opportunity to get close to him, disregarded the glances of others and immediately rushed to answer:

"I happen to know this. We just launched a project last week, and it sold out in just half a day. The average price is around seventeen thousand RMB per square meter, just two kilometers west of here. Recently released projects have basically sold out on the same day. The increase in housing prices is too dramatic. Since the second half of last year, some areas have seen a hundred percent increase, effectively doubling the price from last year!"

Mr. Xu from Hengda nodded and added, "That's right. Our company's Hengda·Blue Moon Valley project sold for ten thousand RMB per square meter in the first phase last year, and when the second phase opened in May this year, it directly jumped to fifteen thousand RMB. And that was because it opened early. A few days ago, a neighboring residential complex opened and was selling for seventeen thousand, even though the landscaping, underground parking, and facade were actually inferior to our project."

A stout boss nearby couldn't help but cough softly, saying with a beaming smile, "Mr. Xu is referring to the Flowery Moon Mirror project, right? That's the one I developed. We caught it at a good time, when all the projects were in demand. Our real estate company had a project in a slightly remote location, with an initial asking price of four thousand nine hundred last year, but no one was interested. This year, they planned a subway line nearby, about two and a half kilometers from the station, and at nine thousand RMB per square meter, it was instantly snapped up. I almost thought we were finished, but it turned out to be a lucky break."

Mr. Xu looked slightly embarrassed and said with a smile, "It truly is a great stroke of luck. I heard that several developers who had already thought they were doomed ran off to Southeast Asia to escape their debts. But soon after they landed, they heard that housing prices had soared, and they came back in triumph. There are quite a few examples like that."

As they chatted, they remembered that there were official representatives present and swallowed back many of the words that were on the tip of their tongues, lest they attract unnecessary trouble by bragging.

Su Yehao continued, "Rising so much, huh? That's good for clearing out the inventory on the market. The land auctions this year will probably be very lively. Many migrant workers don't have enough money to buy houses yet. Mr. Xu, your Hengda Real Estate, why not shoulder more social responsibility and build more long-term rental apartments in convenient locations, only for rent and not for sale in the future."

Mr. Xu didn't understand what the trick was. There were too many outsiders present, so he couldn't ask too many questions. He could only follow the topic and said, "That's a must, three to five thousand units are no problem. But then again, since they are only for rent and not for sale, commercial apartments should also be fine, right? Could the land price be appropriately reduced?"

Someone answered with a smile, "It's all negotiable. Send someone to my office sometime, and we'll discuss it then. The difficulty and expense of renting a house now are indeed causing some dissatisfaction. The issue of high housing prices is being reported in the newspapers one after another, which is putting a lot of pressure on us."

Su Yehao interjected, "Pengcheng is benchmarked against the top international metropolises. A housing price of more than ten thousand RMB per square meter is actually quite reasonable. In places like Tokyo, New York, and London, more people rent houses. They also can't afford to buy local houses, so I think it's important to improve the housing rental market. In addition, we can also launch some small units with one bedroom and one living room, or two bedrooms and one living room, to lower the barrier to buying a house."

Rather than saying that housing prices in major first-tier cities are soaring, it is more accurate to say that the real estate market is truly beginning to be market-driven, allowing prices to rise to their rightful position.

In the previous two or three years, housing prices were not high, and the accumulated commercial housing could not be sold no matter what. Not many people were really rushing to buy, and many people were waiting to see the real estate developers make fools of themselves. Bankrupt developers running away were everywhere.

Now that housing prices have risen, all kinds of voices have emerged.

Compared to not being able to buy a house, it's actually more like the train left without them, and they feel bad about missing out on an opportunity to get rich.

Investing in stocks is the same principle. No one cares when the stock price is lukewarm, but after it soars, people beat their chests and regret it.

As for bubbles or something.

At least in 2007, Su Yehao hadn't seen any signs.

Commercial housing selling for more than ten thousand RMB per square meter in the core area of Pengcheng, with particularly conscientious public area ratios, still seemed like a bargain to him.

The surrounding areas with several thousand RMB per square meter were also not expensive, and were still a good opportunity to get on board. In ten years or so, there would be a chance to earn seven or eight times the investment without even trying.

The reason he asked Mr. Xu to launch some long-term rental housing projects was mainly to let him slow down a little and not run too fast.

He didn't usually interfere much in the financing of these real estate companies, and Su Yehao didn't expect that Hengda had acquired more than 40 million square meters of reserve land in the first half of this year alone.

This 40 million square meters refers to the construction area.

Digest it slightly this year, just to leave some cash in the account, so as to safely weather the financial crisis that may occur next year.

At that time, develop and take land at the same time, and find a suitable time to start the transformation in the next ten years. This can help Su Yehao bring the greatest benefits.

Mr. Xu failed to understand his thoughts. He was wondering if it was because he made too much money from selling houses and was afraid of being scolded, so he engaged in some public welfare long-term rental housing projects to establish a more positive brand image.

Su Yehao did have this consideration, but it was only a secondary factor.

Although housing prices are rising all the way, the rental prices in Pengcheng are actually still at a low level. Developers are busy with one-shot deals. If they really have the patience to take advantage of the low prices to deploy the housing rental market, it may not be a good business.

Nowadays, the cost of developing small houses of thirty to forty square meters may only be four to five thousand RMB, and the annual rent will be twenty to thirty thousand in the future. Calculating the rate of return, it is actually quite considerable.

The problem is that deploying the rental market requires a large amount of capital investment.

If Hengda starts deploying from now on and invests part of its profits into it, it will basically not have to worry about the future after ten years, and it can live very comfortably by collecting rent...