Wealthy spending more on property

After a slight dip in the Luxury Consumer Price Index last year, it rose by 4 percent in 2014, according to a Hurun Research Institute report released on Tuesday.

The LCPI was also 1.7 percent higher than China's overall CPI released by the National Bureau of Statistics in June. Over the past eight years, the LCPI has risen 70 percent, while the national consumer price index is up only 29.2 percent.

The main factors resulting in the rise of LCPI have changed over time. This year, the spending was mainly on luxury property, yachts and jets, as well as education. Last year, however, the most significant categories were luxury travel, accessories and skincare products, and automobiles.

Among all categories, luxury property has increased the most, with its growth rate reaching 12.6 percent in 2014. The sustained growth of the Chinese economy, the rising numbers of wealthy Chinese and the increasing popularity of golf have caused luxury property prices to rise, said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report.

In order to buy a 350-square-meter golf villa in Shanghai, one would have to spend up to 25 million yuan ($4 million), about 6 million yuan more than last year. Shanghai high-grade apartments are not doing badly either. The price of a 278-square-meter luxury apartment near the Huangpu River rose 2.5 million yuan to reach 14 million yuan, Hoogewerf added.

Zhang Ye, 43, who runs a securities company in Shanghai, recently purchased a 190-square-meter villa on Chongming Island, about 90 minutes' drive from the city center. Despite its remoteness, the villa still cost him him some 5 million yuan.

The reason? "The community has golf course in it," Zhang said, adding, "Of course, the air quality in Chongming is much better. But more important, villas are scarce resources now. It is really worth investing in them at the moment," he said.

Yachts and jets have enjoyed increasing attention from wealthy consumers, their prices rising for three consecutive years, with this year's growth rate reaching 6.5 percent.