Holding Qingdao Vientiane City, which earns 400 million annually, China Resources Commercial REIT awaits the completion of the expansion fundraising.

Guandian.cn Qingdao Vientiane City is getting easier and better to explore. With China Resources Huishang Commercial REIT (hereinafter referred to as China Resources Huishang Commercial REIT) holding a “cash cow,” it naturally feels calmer.

At present, the domestic retail commercial market is not doing very well. Many commercial projects are constrained by intensifying regional competition, a single tenant mix, or insufficient operating capabilities. Rent growth is weak, occupancy rates fluctuate, and there is even a risk of losing key tenants.

Against this backdrop, assets that can deliver growth in core metrics undoubtedly have stronger resilience across the cycle.

Last year, Qingdao Vientiane City provided exactly such performance.

As the only underlying asset currently held by China Resources Huishang Commercial REIT, this shopping mall, which opened in 2015 and has a scale of nearly 300k square meters, apparently showed no signs of fatigue when it reached ten years of operations.

This helped China Resources Huishang Commercial REIT achieve double-digit growth in performance in 2025.

In terms of financial performance, China Resources Huishang Commercial REIT last year recorded operating revenue of RMB 762 million, up 18.7%; EBITDA of RMB 424 million; and net profit of RMB 55.7345 million, representing a substantial increase compared with RMB 300k in the prior year.

For distributions, China Resources Huishang Commercial REIT had a distributable amount of RMB 365 million, with actual distributions of RMB 360 million. During 2025, it continued to complete 4 cash dividends, with a cash flow distribution payout ratio of approximately 3.72%.

As performance support, Qingdao Jiashengrun City Commercial Management Co., Ltd. (Qingdao Vientiane City) achieved comprehensive growth in 2025.

Image source: Corporate financial reports, business guest excerpt

The project continues to maintain its positioning as a head M2 (if using the latest positioning, then as a city flagship), and shows corresponding results: operating revenue was RMB 754 million, up 19.74%; EBITDA reached RMB 439 million, up 20.91%. At the same time, gross margin increased from 61.42% in the same period last year to 64.73%.

Occupancy rate is a core indicator for assessing the operational health of a shopping mall. The market generally believes that an occupancy rate of 95% is a healthy line for commercial projects. As of the end of 2025, Qingdao Vientiane City had 139.8k square meters of space available for rent, with 138.5k square meters actually rented, resulting in an occupancy rate as high as 99.09%.

As for rent per unit, during the reporting period Qingdao Vientiane City reported an average rent of RMB 426.61 per square meter per month. Given Qingdao’s consumer level as a strong second-tier city, this rent per unit already places it among the top tier.

Also, according to China Resources Huishang Commercial REIT’s 2025 Q4 report, Qingdao Vientiane City’s average rent per unit has actually increased to RMB 436.44 per square meter per month. Meanwhile, the full-year 2024 rent per unit was RMB 397.73 per square meter per month.

In addition, the project’s lease-weighted average remaining lease term at the end of the period was 2 years, with a healthy structure. And currently, the tenant concentration in the project remains at a relatively low level: the combined rent income share of the top five tenants is only 13.63%, making the tenant structure controllable.

The financial report also reveals that Qingdao Vientiane City hit a record high in annual foot traffic last year, and the number of members also grew year over year by 22% to 1.77 million. For comparison, as of the end of 2024, Qingdao’s resident population was about 10.4425 million.

Behind these figures is the fact that Qingdao Vientiane City drove positive upgrades in both soft and hard aspects last year, bringing benefits to operating performance.

It is understood that in August last year, Qingdao Vientiane City completed the reconstruction of the Phase 1 south district two months ahead of schedule and opened for business ahead of time. This involved a construction area of about 12.5k square meters, and the project newly introduced 15 stores, including 6 dining brands: clothing retail brand Xicunziwu; home and household brand Harbor House; and 驸马巷, 十秋, 芸山季, 阿萨中东料理, 魔宗烧肉, and 小岩隐.

Also including the portion of Phase 1 L4–L5 and Phase 2 L4–L5 that was completed in 2024, the area of upgraded and renovated sections completed in recent years at Qingdao Vientiane City exceeds 25k square meters.

But what draws the most attention from the outside world is the intensity of brand repositioning and adjustment at Qingdao Vientiane City. The financial report shows that in 2025, the project opened 151 new stores, of which 46 were Shandong first stores and 12 were Qingdao first stores.

Specifically, Qingdao Vientiane City introduced a series of brands including D’station DESCENTE Shandong provincial-level flagship store; Salomon’s first S-level flagship store in Shandong; HOURGLASS Shandong first store; DOCUMENTS Qingdao first store; GROTTO Shandong first store; tea‘stone Shandong first store; Bannu tripe hot pot Qingdao first store; 芸山季 Shandong first store; 四季椰林 Shandong first store; 驸马巷 Shandong first store; and others.

Particularly worth noting is the clustering effect of the project in outdoor sport brands. In 2025, international outdoor brands such as Salomon, KEEN, MAMMUT, and Haglofs successively moved in or upgraded their stores, rapidly strengthening Qingdao Vientiane City’s outdoor brand matrix.

According to the project operator’s disclosure on the Xiaohongshu platform in September 2025, the number of outdoor-related brands in the venue is approaching 50, forming comprehensive coverage from professional gear to urban outdoor activities. This layout has hit a structural hotspot in today’s consumer market. In recent years, consumption growth rates in categories related to outdoor sports have continued to lead the overall retail market.

And currently, Qingdao Vientiane City continues to further improve the breadth of its sports and outdoor brand offerings.

It is understood that over roughly half a year from Q4 2025 to Q1 2026, the project will also introduce outdoor brands such as Skechers kids, VAUDE, a German sustainable outdoor brand, the children’s high-end outdoor brand Dodopoli, and the light outdoor parent-child brand ACMEITEM 爱棵米, continuing to make Qingdao Vientiane City the mall in Qingdao with the most complete selection of sports and outdoor brands.

At the same time, Qingdao Vientiane City also continues to reposition, adjust, and upgrade brands within the project, including introducing Korea’s trendy brand Mmlg (Shandong first store), women’s apparel brand AIRIQI, independent personal apparel brand MEIYANG.美洋, mid-to-high-end women’s apparel brand ARIOSEYEARS, UK vintage casual shoe brand WALSH, children’s apparel brand PAW IN PAW, Anta Campus, the UK rain boot brand HUNTER (Shandong first store), 太平鸟, and the trendy apparel brand SMILEREPUBLIC, etc.;

as well as 嘉士利·黄油手 gift and confection brands, HOOHOO creative cuisine, the dessert brand rainbobo, the brand 新京菜羲和·京致, the new retail brand 番茄口袋, the Sichuan cuisine brand 马鸿兴 (Shandong first store), the copper-griddle cake brand 泽田本家, the guochao accessories brand 福录, 三丽鸥 Qingdao first store, 好利来 Shandong first store, etc.

However, no matter how well one single-asset operation is managed, there is ultimately concentration risk. For China Resources Huishang Commercial REIT, expansion is the only way forward.

In 2025, the fund manager of China Resources Huishang Commercial REIT had previously rolled out two rounds of expansion plans.

The first round was announced on March 25, proposing to acquire the Kunshan Vientiane Hui project. The second round was announced on July 9, proposing to acquire three projects: Hangzhou Xiaoshan Vientiane Hui, Shenyang Changbai Vientiane Hui, and Zibo Vientiane Hui.

According to the latest announcements, the work related to the first-round expansion is still being advanced according to plan. Meanwhile, for the second-round expansion, approval is still needed: filing for recommendation by the National Development and Reform Commission; the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s approval for a change in fund registration; the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s approval of the fund product change application and asset-backed securities-related applications; and only after final approval by a meeting of fund unit holders can it be implemented.

China Resources Land is committed to advancing this. Looking ahead, the implementation of expansion is only a matter of time.

According to China Resources Land’s latest plan, during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period (and beyond), the company will also push the scale of publicly offered REITs to exceed RMB 60 billion. As a reserve source for expansion assets, as of the end of 2025, China Resources Land had 98 self-owned and operating shopping centers. By the end of 2030, that number will increase to 127.

Disclaimer: This article’s content and data have been compiled by Guandian based on publicly available information and do not constitute investment advice. Please verify before use.

(Editor: Dong Pingping ）

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