By KK Fung

KK Fung, managing director for Greater China at Jones Lang LaSalle, opens his diary

We are in the midst of an exciting change. After a brief hiatus, Jones Lang LaSalle in China recently re-launched its residential team – and now, it will primarily focus on high-end boutique services. In China, residential property makes up 70% of all real estate activity, so we had to jump back in this sector. Starting this year, we have been building up this team again. We currently have staff devoted to this in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. This is how we’re starting, and I believe it’s an area that will lead us to a bigger future.

At the same time, we’re entering the market at a tricky time, as the government is trying to cool the market and clamp down on residential sales. On the face of it, yes, the regulatory environment has some negative impact. But we all know that China is a policy-driven economy, anyway. And, on a positive note, if the market was hot and very active, many developers would not need to come to JLL for consulting help.

Three major changes are driving business in China at JLL. These include urbanization, rising domestic consumption and the movement of Chinese industries up the value chain. As such, we’re increasingly turning our attention to secondary cities around the country. This year we opened two offices in Chongqing, and another in Shenyang. We’re still looking for more opportunities. And with domestic consumption on the rise, our retail property business will be increasingly important.

I lead a team of more than 1,300 people across 12 corporate offices, in addition to another 10,000 staff working in client premises. As we expand our geographical coverage into second- and third-tier cities in China, one of our biggest challenges is to attract top talent in these markets. Our people there act as the real “ambassador” of our brand – the values they demonstrate, the commitment they have and the way they work with our clients. This is extremely critical for our business as we need to ensure the consistency and quality of our service delivery in this diverse region. As for our executives, gaining management experience in secondary cities can help advance careers.

One of our greatest rewards is that we’ve seen a surge in business from local corporations recently. Domestic companies have not done much outsourcing before, as many firms would previously handle real estate activity in-house. JLL has even acquired more contracts with local governments. For example, in Beijing we’ve been doing consultancy work for central business districts, including Chaoyang, Xicheng and Changping. I think this is a result of our relationship-building efforts over the years, which included providing ad-hoc advice. This is a really encouraging development – and it reflects an openness among Chinese officials and corporations that would have been unthinkable 5-10 years ago.

I am a strong believer in work-life balance – and that includes looking after one’s health. I travel every week around China. And maybe sometimes I will forget to pack a tie or business cards, but I never fail to remember my running shoes. In Hong Kong, there are plenty of places to run outdoors, and in Beijing, my favorite running venue is Olympic Park. I invest quite a bit of time in exercise, and that’s because I think every good executive should have a reasonably healthy body and mind.

- As told to April Fong

KK Fung is the managing director for Greater China at Jones Lang LaSalle, a global real estate services firm. He is based in Hong Kong.