Finding a hidden property in Shanghai - Is it really THAT surprising?

Jan. 5, 2009 - Today, one of Macquarie Bank’s real estate arms announced that it’s lowering the price on an apartment building that it has been trying to sell for over six months.  The price drop is reportedly around 25%.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/privateEquityFinancialServicesAndRealEstate/idUKHKG34377620090105

If this property has underperformed, I’m not surprised.  Its website (www.cityapartments.com.cn) says a lot.  The complex’s name is City Apartments.  When searching “city apartments Shanghai” on Google, the official website isn’t even in the first two pages of search returns.  (There are references to the complex in listings on some real estate websites within the first two pages though.)  This is problem number 1: horrible (non-existent) search engine optimization.  The lack of SEO is particularly acute given that from a SEO perspective, the URL and complex name are pretty good.

English is the default language on the site, which means that there’s a heavy focus (if not outright emphasis on expats).  However, the English text is obviously written by a non-native English speaker.  The overly flowery marketing language (e.g.,“…a world of sumptuous luxury…”) indicates a direct translation from Chinese, rather than any real effort to write copy for the expat market.

Finally, the look and feel of the website is completely amateurish.  One couldn’t be blamed for assuming the management company would be the same way (I have no idea – I’ve never been there.  Actually, that’s a testament to how poorly they’ve marketed it.  For 20 months, I lived literally 250 meters from the building; yet, never knew of its existence!)

It’s a shame to see a building such as this one underperform.  As one of the relatively few non-strata title apartment buildings in Shanghai, it had a huge marketing advantage – particularly for the expat market.  I can’t overstate the importance of that advantage.

If the property was underperforming (which is my inference based on the steep price reduction), I really have to wonder why Macquarie didn’t spend a few thousand USD (AT MOST!) to create a respectable, indexable site.