The world's biggest real estate services company opened an office in Shenzhen yesterday, as the city's housing prices continue to rise.

CB Richard Ellis, the world's largest real estate services company in terms of revenue last year, opened an office in the city's new CBD in Futian District. It is the company's eighth office in China.

Martin Chiu, managing director of CB Richard Ellis in Shenzhen, said the company has confidence in Shenzhen's real estate market in "the short, medium and long term."

"We anticipate further development within the office, retail, residential, industrial, hotel, tourism and conferencing sectors in 2007, which in turn will lead to additional demand for high-quality professional real estate services," said Chiu.

The average price of new apartments in Shenzhen reached 9,081 yuan (US$1,135) per square meter in the first 11 months of last year, up 30.37 percent from the same period in 2005, official figures show.

The office will provide a wide range of services, including consulting, valuation, sales, leasing and property management.

Chris Brooke, president and CEO of CB Richard Ellis Greater China, said Shenzhen is a key element of the company's China plan. Brooke added he is very optimistic about China's housing market. But he also said that the government's efforts to cool down the market would make the market more sustainable in the long run.

Zhang Wenhua, secretary general of the lcoal real estate association, welcomed the entry of CB Richard Ellis, saying that it could bring good management practices to Shenzhen's real estate services sector.

However, Zhang said the American firm would not provide a great deal of competition to the existing real estate agencies in the city, because "the local companies are already very strong."

CB Richard Ellis earned US$4.5 billion last year, more than any other real estate services company in the world. The company will soon open offices in Hangzhou and Shanghai.

Editor: Yan