Demand for Beijing’s grade-A office buildings increased in the first half of the year, with artificial intelligence and semiconductor companies making the Zhongguancun area a hot property at a time when office markets nationwide are still struggling.
Home to the capital’s densest cluster of hi-tech firms, Zhongguancun was the only submarket to post rent growth in Beijing, China’s second-largest office market after Shanghai, according to a report from property consultancy Knight Frank on Thursday.
The firm’s data showed that the average monthly rent of grade-A offices in Zhongguancun reached 251.40 yuan (US$37) per square metre in the second quarter, ticking up 0.3 per cent from the first quarter. The price level was the second-highest in Beijing after Financial Street.
“This year marks the arrival of the AI super cycle, and it has only just begun,” said Virginia Huang, managing director for north and east China at Knight Frank. “Leasing demand driven by relevant tech firms is foreseen to continue in the next three to five years in Beijing, and it will only pick up further.”
Beijing’s office market had shifted from passive adjustment to structural recovery, but this did not yet signal a full-scale market rebound, Huang said. “The overall trend requires continued monitoring, and it is likely to be in late 2029 or early 2030,” she added.
Tech companies including ByteDance, DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Rank Computing and Sunmmio rented additional space in Zhongguancun in the second quarter.