The distance to Xiamen wasn't far at all.

An hour later, the Gulfstream G550 business jet, intended for Grandpa Su, landed at Gaoqi International Airport.

Perhaps the higher-ups hadn't specifically notified the airport, or maybe they hadn't had time.

In any case, there was no one to pick them up. Su Yehao took a business car to the customs checkpoint, went through the formalities of registration, and then got directly into the car to go to the hotel.

When the motorcade arrived in the city.

Nong Qingying glanced around and noticed several construction sites with "Sihai International" written on them. She asked, puzzled:

"Ah Hao, Uncle, is it really okay for you to hold so much land without developing it? I saw on the news online that if land isn't developed after a certain amount of time, it gets taken back. So why do you still want to take over the residential buildings near the Cultural Tourism City?"

Before Father Su could speak, Su Yehao, who was helping to hold the baby, interjected:

"That's a woman's perspective. How am I speculating on land? I'm clearly just busy developing commercial real estate projects like shopping malls and office buildings first, and I haven't had time to develop residential properties yet. You can't say things like that outside, or people will really misunderstand and think our family is hoarding land."

"...I don't believe you. You clearly said before that you would sell when the house prices are high."

Hearing this, Father Su happily explained:

"If our family takes more land, the local finances will be more abundant. As long as there's a reasonable reason and we don't go too far, there usually won't be any problems. Almost no one in the entire industrial chain will suffer losses. The authorities use the money from land sales to invest in infrastructure, there are already quite a few existing houses on the market, and construction companies and building material suppliers will be happy too. If house prices rise, we'll pay more taxes, and the people who want to buy houses now aren't exactly lacking houses."

Pinching his son's small face, soft and bouncy, Su Yehao also added:

"In the past few years, the mainland's economic growth has been so good, and the infrastructure is developing so quickly. The marketization of real estate has contributed greatly, successfully making the pie bigger. Whether it's an old house or a newly bought house, as long as it's in the city, you've basically enjoyed the benefits. You can imagine how many middle-class and upper-class people will emerge in the mainland if it develops to the level of Hong Kong's real estate market."

Nong Qingying didn't know much about these things and asked in surprise, "Now that houses are cheap, more people are buying them. Will anyone still buy houses when prices are high in the future? They won't be able to afford them at all, right?"

"Whether or not houses are easy to sell mainly depends on the level of urbanization. People in the countryside want to go to the towns, people in the towns want to go to the cities, and people in third- and fourth-tier cities want to run to second-tier cities, or even settle directly in first-tier cities. The most important thing is whether house prices can continue to rise. For many ordinary people, this is the safest way to invest. Someone in Peng City bought a house a few years ago and made hundreds of thousands in the blink of an eye. With examples of getting rich right in front of them, who wouldn't be tempted?"

Whether in his previous life or this one, Su Yehao had always been involved in the real estate industry. He had long understood the tricks of the trade.

Commercial housing, as the name suggests, is both practical and has investment attributes. Experts often say that the per capita area is already so much, which is equivalent to a sleight of hand, not including the urbanization factor.

Therefore, even though it was proposed long ago that there was an excess of existing houses, countless real estate companies were still building houses enthusiastically, and it didn't seem like there were really more houses in big cities, at least not in this era.

In addition, some people say that house prices are high, mainly referring to new houses in big cities.

House prices in remote rural towns are cheap, but no one is really rushing to snatch them up. The mentality is obviously a bit of wanting something good but complaining that it's too expensive, but unfortunately, there aren't so many good things in the world.

In fact, in 2004, you could still find dilapidated old houses in first-tier cities for two or three thousand yuan per square meter, and there were also many old houses for sale at low prices in Xiamen.

If you really came to grab a spot, you might become a demolition household in the future. As the city continues to expand to the surrounding areas, planning ahead in today's suburbs will cost even less, but very few people have this vision. More people are just getting lucky.

Maybe someone comes to work in a big city now and is forced to buy an old one-story house because they don't have money, and then it's suddenly demolished in the future.

Some people even buy again after demolishing once. With the needs of urban renovation and expansion, the newly bought old house is then demolished again.

The present is indeed a magical era of crazy wealth creation.

If Su Yehao hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes, he would have thought someone was crazy if they told him that the mainland's total economic output would increase more than tenfold in the next twenty years.

This also led Father Su to feel at the end of last year that the residential project in Peng City's Cultural Tourism City could be tried out, thinking that the profit margin was already quite good, and that it might be possible to sell it for ten thousand yuan per square meter at that time.

In Su Yehao's eyes, selling commercial housing in the Peng City Bay Area for ten thousand yuan per square meter was equivalent to doing charity, selling golden eggs at cabbage prices. Therefore, he told Father Su to continue to focus on commercial real estate projects and not to touch the existing residential land for five years.

At this moment, Father Su pointed to an unfinished building across the strait and introduced:

"If I remember correctly, that place should be the project that they want me to take over, which is said to belong to the post office. It's called the Post and Telecommunications Building. They originally wanted to build a landmark, but construction was halted due to funding issues. The plan was to build it two or three hundred meters high. Son, help me take a look, does this place have potential?"

Not knowing much about Xiamen, Su Yehao only remembered that the Twin Towers there were quite distinctive. He glanced at it casually, but it was dark and he couldn't see anything, only the red lights of the tower crane were flashing.

He replied:

"It's pitch black, and the location seems just so-so. If we manage the chain shopping center well, the profit margin will be higher than that of office buildings and high-end hotels. If we want to collect rent through office buildings, we shouldn't lack tenants if we build them early. When other companies develop and build office buildings in a swarm, our family's advantages will be quickly lost."

"What you said makes sense. Hong Kong's buildings are concentrated on both sides of Victoria Harbour, but there are so many large cities in the mainland that you can't count them on both hands. The office building business will probably be more difficult to do in the future. Also, the construction cost of office buildings is high, and the value depends on the rental yield. It's difficult for them to double or triple in value in four or five years like residential properties."

Father Su hesitated for a moment, then added:

"I'll ask again tomorrow if there are any disputes. If I agree to take over, maybe they'll release a few good pieces of land to me. I heard that wealthy people in southern Fujian like big villas, and houses are easier to sell there."

"..."

Su Yehao clicked his tongue.

It seemed that the news that locals liked big villas had already spread in this era.

Since his own father had grasped the essence of doing business locally, he probably didn't need to worry about the business here in the future.

Since it was an office building that the family was keeping for rent, the possibility of losing money was extremely small. If they could really reach an agreement to get a few pieces of land in good locations by taking over the project, it would obviously be a sure profit.

This approach was a win-win situation.

Otherwise, the tallest building in the area would be left unfinished, scaring away other developers and affecting land auctions and investment promotion, and it wouldn't look good on the surface either. It was estimated that it would cost only a billion or two to take over.

But then again, since they were already investing a billion or two, why not simply take another piece of land and redesign a more novel complex?

Ever since Su Yehao discovered Zaha Hadid Architects through the Four Nine City Olympic Main Stadium, he had been thinking about working with them.

Whether some fanciful and novel buildings would lead to high construction costs was another matter, at least he would feel more comfortable looking at them, and he could indirectly enhance the brand value of Sihai International Group.

The wool comes from the sheep, and he could always earn it back in the future...