At the time of "breaking up", long-term rental apartments entered the late stage of shuffling.

Shenzhen World Bank Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "World Bank", 2285.SZ), which had hoped to display its ambition in the field of long-term rental apartments, recently began to shift from "lease-operation" (medium-asset model) to "entrusted operation" (light-asset model).

Long-term rental apartments have entered a new stage. The future housing rental market is considered to be a three-dimensional macro-ecology, which is called "multi-agent supply and multi-channel participation". Long-term rental apartments have gone through the period of scale expansion and financial crisis reshuffle, and then more competition is in operation and service, and it is fundamental to improve the occupancy rate and floor efficiency.

from medium assets to light assets

The layout of long-term rental apartments has been more than five years, and World Bank has a new thinking on this business.

World Bank disclosed the Announcement on Disposal of Some Raised Funds Investment Projects and Sale of the Equity and Related Transactions of its wholly-owned subsidiaries (hereinafter referred to as "Equity Transfer Agreement"), saying that the company intends to sign the "Equity Transfer Agreement" with its wholly-owned subsidiaries Shenzhen World Union Jifang Asset Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "World Union Jifang") and Ningbo Jiangbei Huayan Zhihui Industrial Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) (hereinafter referred to as "Huayan Zhihui").

at the same time, however, within seven working days from the signing date of the aforementioned Equity Transfer Agreement, World Bank intends to acquire the equity of 43 subsidiaries under the control of World Bank Jifang at a price of 219 million yuan.

The core business of Shilian Jifang is Shilian Hongpu Apartment.

from the end of 215, World Bank began to deploy apartment business in first-and second-tier cities with relatively developed economies and strong demand for leasing.

as of December 22, there are about 14 apartment projects under management in World Bank, about 82% of which are in the medium-asset mode, and the rest are in the light-asset mode except for a few projects.

World Bank said that since the company started its apartment business, the China Assets model has helped it achieve rapid scale development, which enabled it to build a professional service team, establish a complete operation management system platform, shape a good brand reputation and build its competitive advantage in the centralized long-term rental apartment industry within a few years.

At the same time, however, due to the need to invest a lot of capital in the early stage and the long payback period, in the current market environment, it brings certain pressure to the overall operation.

World Bank said that the sale of the equity of World Bank Jifang was accompanied by the acquisition of the equity of 43 subsidiaries of World Bank Jifang, in order to realize the strategic goal of transforming the apartment management business into a light asset model.

after the asset reorganization, all the businesses held by Shilian Jifang are long-term rental apartment businesses with medium asset model. Among the 43 subsidiaries of Shilian Jifang, 23 companies are companies with cancelled projects (no projects), 7 companies are not yet operating, and the remaining 13 companies are operating project companies, * * * including 25 projects, mainly light asset model apartment projects, and the rest are hotel short rent operation projects and self-owned property rights.

The counterparty of this transaction is Huayan Zhihui, and the actual undertaker is Zhuhai Hengqin Huaqin Industrial Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) (hereinafter referred to as Huaqin Industry). World Bank also disclosed the investors of Huaqin Industry, including Nanjing Rubik's Cube Jiahong Apartment Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Nanjing Rubik's Cube") with a subscription ratio of 18.5%.

It is worth mentioning that the investment funds of Nanjing Rubik's Cube mainly come from its parent company Rubik's Cube (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Rubik's Cube"). Rubik's Cube is an apartment service operator mainly based in asset-light strategy, and it is mainly distributed in CBD of first-and second-tier cities and the surrounding areas of large parks, which is similar to the distribution of business areas of Shilian Jifang. This has also caused some brokers to speculate that it is not an illusory capital story that World Bank will make efforts in the field of long-term rental apartments with light assets.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the uneven development of long-term rental apartments.

Luo Yi, founder and CEO of Leju Apartment Group, said that the operation mode of China Assets is greatly affected by the cycle. If the property is rented in the down cycle, and the assembly and operation costs are controllable, the profitability is still promising. But if it is reversed, the fault tolerance of the mode is very low. Generally speaking, light asset institutions are less risky, but the growth of revenue and profit is in a linear state, and they will face financial pressure for a long time before the profit of their main business can not offset the middle and back office costs.

Profitability is difficult

As early as 216, Chen Jinsong put forward the goal of "1, in the year, 5,-6, in 22, and 1 million in the long run". He believes that when the contracted scale reaches 1,, Hongpu Apartment will be profitable after 218.

Looking back at the six years that World Bank entered the long-term rental apartment, the overall operating conditions of World Bank Jifang are hardly optimistic. As of September 3, 22, the net assets of Shilian Jifang recorded-1.4 billion yuan; In the first three quarters of 22, the net loss of Shilian Jifang was 21 million yuan.

despite the broad prospects of the leasing market backed by the east wind of policies, it is a common phenomenon in the industry not to make money.

At present, the operation modes of apartment business in the market mainly include three modes: holding-operating (asset-oriented mode), leasing-operating (medium-asset mode) and entrusted operation (light-asset mode).

according to the "hold-operate" (asset-oriented model) supported by Vanke and Country Garden (27.HK), Longhu Real Estate (96.HK), which started to set up the "Guanyu" team for long-term rental apartments in 216, once "mentioned that it hopes to be the top three in the long-term rental apartment market in 22", and it is currently in a micro-profit state.

Vanke is undoubtedly one of the pioneers in renting apartments for a long time. According to Vanke's 22 interim report, the company's rental housing business has an operating income of 1.5 billion yuan. The company has opened a total of 127,3 berths in 33 cities. The overall occupancy rate of the opened projects is 88%, and the occupancy rate of mature projects (opened for half a year or more) is 93.7%.

however, Vanke's "ten thousand villages plan" has already suspended the expansion of new housing. Zhu Jiusheng, president and CEO of Vanke, and other high-level people almost admit that it is difficult to make money by renting apartments for a long time.

In the past year, long-term rental apartments operated by medium-asset or light-asset models, such as eggshells and freedoms, have frequently fallen into the mire of complaints.

All listed brands of long-term rental apartments are losing money. For example, Qingke Apartment recorded losses of 245 million yuan, 499 million yuan and 498 million yuan respectively in fiscal year 217-219.

the root cause is that the operation mode of high income and low rent, short debt and long investment needs the help of scale expansion, tenant expansion and rent increase, so it is expected to continue to operate healthily. However, when the rental market goes down, the rent increase is unsustainable, the number of tenants decreases, and the vacancy rate of rooms increases, etc., there will be a game of interests between the platform and the owners and tenants, which will lead to various risks.

With regard to the profitability of long-term rental apartments, Yu Liang, Chairman of Vanke's Board of Directors, made an earlier statement, which seems to partially represent the real situation of the market. "In terms of the rate of return, we are satisfied that we can achieve a rate of return of 1%-2%."

A person in charge of leasing field who did not want to be named shared with the First Financial Reporter that the return rate of long-term rental apartments is only 1%-3%, which is generally lower than 2% in first-tier cities. At present, the financing interest rate of long-term rental business is generally above 5%, which is a "slow-earning" and risky industry.

The housing price, land price and financing cost are all on the high side, while the rental income is on the low side. Under the persistent effect of this contradiction, many small long-term rental apartment enterprises have been shuffled out in the past year.

"Under the background of the red line of' three roads', the balance of real estate loans and the balance of personal housing loans of financial institutions set up by the central bank and China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the whole external financing environment is tightening, and housing enterprises and investors with tight funds will only speed up their withdrawal from long-term rental apartments that earn slow money." The above-mentioned person in charge said that the long-term layout with a calm mind is expected to go through the difficulty of profitability and further strengthen its strength.

The strategic layout of housing enterprises "abacus"

Since it is difficult to make money, why do housing enterprises pay so much attention to long-term rental apartments?

At present, at least one-third of TOP3 real estate developers have entered the rental market. Including Country Garden, Vanke, Longhu, Poly Real Estate (648.SH), Xuhui Holdings (884.HK), Greentown China (39.HK), Ocean Shipping Group (3377.HK), China Merchants Shekou (1979.SZ), etc., have accelerated their layout in this field.

referring to the reasons why developers favor long-term rental business, a person in charge of the operation of a TOP1 real estate enterprise in Shenzhen said that the long-term rental apartment market has a typical "long tail effect", especially in first-tier cities, where long-term rental apartments have a huge customer base and the cash flow of leased properties is very good, which is an ideal carrier for asset securitization. I believe that the development of financial markets and leased property markets will be mutually driven. "The financing cost of long-term rental apartments accounts for more than 5% of the total operating cost, while the rent can only cover the operating cost or cannot cover the operating cost at all. The maturity of financial products such as REITs and special corporate bonds for housing leasing will also greatly reduce the development resistance of this market."

in July 22, the first long-term rental apartment sample berth (Chengshou Temple Community) built and operated by Beijing Vanke was put on the market. This is also the epitome of Vanke's landing in the ToG field of long-term rental apartments.

at the interim results meeting in 22, Zhu Xu, secretary of Vanke's board of directors, said that "at present, two projects of collective rental housing in Beijing have been opened, and we have set up joint ventures with Shenzhen and Jinan Talent Housing Group to build collective rental housing, and we also hope to make greater contributions in the future."

The business boundaries of long-term rental apartments from ToC, ToB to ToG have been expanding, and at the same time, some enterprises that continue to lay out this field have also ushered in the first turning point of development.

Shao Mingxiao, CEO of Longhu Group, bluntly expressed confidence in the long-term rental apartment business at the 22 interim results meeting. It has a very large user base, and the number of users aged 21-35 is very large. In addition, the overall capital cost is relatively low, and it should be no problem to complete the opening of 1, stores and the income of 2 billion this year.

He also pointed out that the business started to be slightly profitable in 22, which was a start. In the future, the company will further optimize the ratio of heavy assets to light assets according to the grasp of the whole opportunity. At the same time, it is mentioned that Guanyu has reached a relatively stable period, and its gross profit margin is also 32% to 35%. Now the rental rate has reached 88.6% after six months of opening, and the whole progress is still very benign.

Vanke responded to investors on the recent interactive platform, saying that long-term rental of apartments is an important channel to solve the housing problem, and the company is optimistic about the long-term future of its business. Vanke believes that the market demand for centralized apartments is large, and it is in line with the policy direction of both rent and purchase. The company will continue to unswervingly push forward this business.

Luo Yi also told the First Financial Reporter that the housing leasing industry has entered the category of social security in the 14th Five-Year Plan and is an important field in the national top-level design. And in first-tier and "quasi-first-tier" cities, the demand for long-term rent is strong and sustainable, but there will be a new round of adjustment in supply channels and participants. "In the future, the subjects participating in long-term rental will be more diverse, and the participation methods will also be combined with the company's own capabilities and genes. Some will cut in from the asset side, and some will cut in from the operation service side. Of course, no matter what the identity is, it will eventually fall into operation. Strong, systematic and iterative operational capabilities will be more scarce in the industry in the future."