GBA 'expected to be world's No. 1 bay area'

GBA expected to be world’s No. 1 bay area: Savills

Driven by favorable national policies, the market in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) has shown enormous vitality and unprecedented opportunities in urban development have arisen, making the GBA well-positioned to surpass the bay areas in the U.S. and Japan to become the world’s No.1 bay area in the foreseeable future, according to executives from Savills in South China and Shenzhen.

“With the support of the Central Government’s policies, coupled with the region’s existing economic strength, the gathering of talents and enterprises, and the fertile soil for innovation and entrepreneurship, I believe that the GBA will soon become a world-class bay area,” Woody Lam, managing director of Savills Southern China, told Shenzhen Daily in a recent interview.

Woody Lam (R), managing director of Savills Southern China, and Ray Wu, managing director of Savills Shenzhen, pose for a picture after giving an interview to Shenzhen Daily on Aug. 15. Lin Jianping

Savills has been offering services in the GBA for over two decades while participating in and witnessing the region’s development, according to Lam.

“Since the development plan of the GBA was put forward in 2017, we have actively mapped out plans with the goal of seizing the development opportunities in the bay area and creating value for the region and the market,” Lam said.

Savills, a time-honored and leading global commercial real estate advisory firm, debuted in Guangzhou in 1997 and has ever since been a major player in the South China market. Lam, who is responsible for the company’s overall South China operations, established their Shenzhen office in 2003.

According to Lam, Savills’ three offices in the GBA, namely in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai, have all been upgraded and expanded since the signing of the Framework Agreement on Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation in the Development of the Bay Area. In 2019, its Shenzhen office moved from Futian District to the China Resources Tower in Nanshan District, with a 50% increase in office space. The office is also positioned as the company’s headquarters in the GBA.

While strengthening manpower and resource integration in the region, the company has also proactively innovated business services with three new business lines including high-end residence, modern logistics and industry, and Japanese business service.

“It’s been almost 20 years since I came to Shenzhen from Hong Kong. I have witnessed the development and changes of Shenzhen first hand,” said Hong Kong-born and raised Lam.

“I believe it is the special status and conditions of these two cities that have contributed to their respective achievements and advantages. The development of Shenzhen and Hong Kong has always been inextricably linked. Nowadays, their bond is even closer,” he noted.

Looking ahead, Lam believes that the two cities will continue to maintain their special status and form complementary advantages to jointly help the GBA turn into a vibrant and internationally competitive city cluster.

Lam’s rosy prospects for the GBA were shared by Ray Wu, managing director of Savills Shenzhen. “We expect that the GBA will truly become the largest bay area in the world between 2030 and 2035,” Wu said.

The GBA offers complete industrial chains and sound business environment and each city has its distinctive advantages that enable the flow of different resources, according to Wu.

“I don’t think there is another place in the world as unique as the GBA, where there is a strong foundation in manufacturing and digitization as well as increasing attention, research and investment from more enterprises,” Wu remarked.

Wu noticed that over the past 10 years, while many local high-growth enterprises have continued to keep their headquarters in Shenzhen, more nonlocal companies have come to Shenzhen to set up their headquarters. With strong business acumen, Savills launched a one-stop service for headquarters enterprises in the GBA last year.

“When enterprises set up their headquarters and gradually expand their development scale, there will be a series of demands in the real estate field, especially more detailed requests in industrial space,” Wu said, adding that a case in point was Thailand’s Kasikornbank, which has settled its Chinese headquarters in Shenzhen.

“Shenzhen, as a core city of the GBA, has great development potential in all aspects. For Savills, we keep investing some of our quality resources in the bay area. The whole company is increasing investment in the area,” Wu said.