2019年，是长租公寓极限生存的一年。

2019 was a very challenging year for long-term apartment rentals.

2018年中国房屋租赁市场租赁人口达2.1亿人，预计2022年租赁人口将达到2.4亿人。一项调查显示，白领人群中有43%能够接受一辈子租房，80%的人最能接受2500元以下的长租公寓。

The population of renters in China’s residential rental market hit 210 million individuals in 2019, and is expected to increase further to 240 million by 2022. One survey indicates 43% of white-collar workers were willing to accept a lifetime of renting, with 80% of respondents able to accept long-term apartment rentals at 2,500 RMB or less.

长租公寓的市场够大，也够挤。

The long-term rental apartment market is certainly sufficiently large and “squeezed”.

截至2018年，国内长租公寓市场上，活跃的品牌超80个，分布的城市数量达到44个，长租公寓供给量达375,252套。

As of 2018, the long-term apartment rental market in China hosted more than 80 active brands distributed across 44 municipalities with 375,252 long-term rentals on offer.

2017至2018年，一线城市长租公寓新开门店比率高达35%。前几年的运营与试错让行业的问题加剧，企业盲目扩张埋下的雷被一个个引爆。

The percentage of new apartments in the long-term rental market in first-tier cities reached 35% in the period 2017-2018. However, issues in the industry have been exacerbated over the past several years of operations and trial and error. Now mines laid by companies in their blind quest for expansion are detonating, one by one.

2018年，长租公寓行业问题频出，寓见公寓、好租好住、爱公寓、优租客等25家长租公寓因资金链断裂、经营不善而破产。另一边，自如、魔方、蛋壳、青客等强势玩家正在谋求上市。

The long-term apartment rental industry was the subject of frequent issues in 2018 with 25 long-term rental companies, including Yujian Apartment, Haozuhaozhu, Aigongyu, and Youzuke, forced into bankruptcy by ruptures in their asset chains and inadequate management.On the other hand, dominant players such as Ziru, Rubik’s Cube, Danke, and Qingke are planning public listings.

整个行业正在上演“冰与火之歌”。

The industry as a whole seems to be enacting its own “song of ice and fire”.

业内人士指出，经过几年的跑马圈地、长租公寓进入了深度整合期，要么破产被重组，要么上市。资本要求变现，经营也需要更多的金融支持，头部企业的资本化提上日程。但长租公寓依然要解决内生性问题，运营水平与盈利能力，才是核心。在这个层面，拥有融资和运营能力的开发商旗下的长租公寓的优势更加凸显。

Industry insiders point to the fact that long-term apartment rentals are now going through a period of deep consolidation after several years of aggressive expansion, demarcating some to bankruptcy and reorganization and others to the public market. Capital demands monetization and management requires greater financial support, putting the capitalization of leading companies very much on the agenda. Yet the long-term apartment rental market has yet to resolve its internal issues, at the core of which lies operational standards and profitability. This is the sphere in which the advantages of long-term rental businesses operating under developers with strong financial and operational capabilities have come to the fore.

2013年，新派公寓创始人王戈宏创办了面向都市青年新型共享租赁式的新型人才公寓——新派公寓，成为中国长租公寓产业的创新开拓者。

The founder of China Young Professionals Apartments, Wang Gehong, started up a new style of shared rental apartments directed at urban professional youth in 2013 – the China Young Professionals Apartments, marking him a creative pioneer in China’s long-term apartment rental industry.

创立新派当年，王戈宏发起国内首支公寓私募类REITs基金投资，收购位于北京朝阳区CBD的存量旧资产，用创新设计将其改造成新型青年公寓。

Wang Gehong also launched China’s first private equity REIT-like apartment fund for investors in the same year, acquiring old assets in the Chaoyang District CBD of Beijing to be innovatively redesigned and refurbished into new, “youthful” apartments.

作为中国第一支权益型住宅资产租赁类REITs，新派公寓花了5年时间——打磨完成品牌与产品的定价模式。

As China’s first equity-based residential asset REIT, China Young Professionals Apartments has spent 5 years hammering out its brand and product pricing model.

在行业处于冰火两重天的2019年，新派公寓依旧选择冷静下来，看清前路，为日后的疾行蓄力。慢工出细活，王戈宏有自己的创业哲学。艾问独家专访新派公寓创始人王戈宏，听他讲“如何做长租公寓的创新者”。

China Young Professionals Apartments has chosen to keep a cool eye on developments in 2019, a year marked by extremes in the industry, in favor of a steady future focus and to lay up greater energies for a later sprint. Taking it slow and steady means excellent work for Wang Gehong who follows his own entrepreneurial philosophy. iAsk has obtained an exclusive interview with the founder of China Young Professionals Apartments, Wang Gehong, to hear his take on, “How to be an entrepreneur in long-term apartment rentals”.

Does one’s pace determine one’s
success or failure?

艾诚：为什么你会选择在长租公寓领域创业？

Gloria Ai: Why did you decide to set up a business in the long-term apartment rental sphere?

王戈宏：使命感。我从美国回到北京后的一个晚上，从国贸坐地铁到通州，在四惠东换乘，站里面人山人海，大家挤来挤去，我看着特别感慨。我曾经在北京、上海、广州、深圳都“漂过”，那时住的房子条件都很差。创业时我脑子里的第一个愿望，就是要让年轻人有品质地居住，有尊严地打拼，让年轻人能够住在市中心。所以我的第一个店在故宫附近，第二个店靠近CBD。

Wang Gehong: A sense of mission. I was returning to Beijing from the US one night and took the subway from the China World Trade Center to Tongzhou to change trains at Sihuidong. There was a veritable sea of people at the station with everyone having to jostle to and fro and I was really struck by the sight. I have had occasion to “drift through” Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen and the properties I stayed in then were all of very poor quality. The foremost hope in my mind when I founded this business was that I wanted to give young people somewhere to stay of a good quality, from where they could work hard with dignity, and which would enable young people to live in the CBD. So my first apartment ended up near the Forbidden City, and my second near the CBD.

艾诚：你如何用一句话来介绍新派公寓？它有什么不一样？

Gloria Ai: How would you introduce China Young Professionals Apartments in a sentence? What marks it as different?

王戈宏：新派为消费者，也为物业主创造价值。第一，为中国年轻人未来的居住理念、居住方式创造价值。第二，为现在中国所谓的存量资产，闲置资产创造价值。新派为长租公寓筹资难的痛点，找到了一个新出口。

Wang Gehong: CYPA creates value for consumers and owners. First of all, it creates value in terms of the future concepts that Chinese youth will have around accommodation and potential styles of accommodation. Secondly, it creates value for China’s so-called asset stock and idle assets today. CYPA has found a new way of dealing with knotty issues around raising funds in long-term apartment rentals.

在长租公寓行业，大部分都是轻资产项目，属于二房东模式。但在这类商业模式中，由于主体缺乏强信用进行贷款，以及缺乏资产进行抵押，导致筹集发展资金难度大。

The long-term apartment rental industry is dominated by light asset projects which can be grouped under a “middleman landlord model”. But this has led to significant difficulties in raising funds for development due to the lack of strong credit for the entities themselves in obtaining loans as well as their lack of pledgeable assets.

新派公寓采取“品牌运营+REITs基金”的模式，不依靠第三方信用担保，仅靠资产质量和运营能力赢得银行低利率融资，实现从私募基金收购存量资产——改造持有运营——REITs退出的完整闭环。

China Young Professionals Apartments has elected for a “brand operation + REIT fund” model which does not rely on third party credit guarantees, but only on asset quality and operational capabilities by which to win bank financing at lower rates, realizing a complete, “closed loop” from stock acquisition from PE funds — refurbishment, being owned and managed — REIT exit.

艾诚：创业六年多，你观察到中国年轻人放弃买房、大量白领需要长租精装公寓的现象已经非常普遍，还是处在初始阶段？

Gloria Ai: In the more than 6 years since you started your business, you have observed how common it has become for young people in China to give up on buying property and of the need of many white-collar workers for high-quality, long-term apartment rentals. Are we still in the early stages here?

王戈宏：很幸运，前年、去年市场的需求就已经得到印证。中国长租公寓行业现在发展非常迅猛，同时，国家提出的“住房不炒”政策对行业来说也是一个利好信号。长租公寓行业已经进入到一个巨大的井喷时代。

Wang Gehong: The existing need in the market was already demonstrated last year and the year before that. China’s long-term apartment rental industry is currently growing at a very fast pace while, at the same time, the “houses are for living, not speculation”policy put forward by the government has also been a positive signal from the industry’s perspective. The long-term rental apartment industry has now entered into an era of massive, “gushing” growth.

艾诚：业内各路豪强疯狂的拿房、获客，行业也相继出现蛋壳、魔方等新玩家。新派为什么这么安静，没有去大量融资？

Gloria Ai: Various strong players within the industry have been snapping up properties and gaining customers at a frenzied pace. We’ve also seen a succession of new players emerge such as Danke, Rubik’s Cube, and so on. Why is CYPA so calm? Why hasn’t it gone out to raise significant financing?

王戈宏：这与我的初心有关。中国许多创业者的目标是：第一，做大；第二，做快；第三，要IPO。因为这样才能证明它的价值。

Wang Gehong: It has to do with my initial aspirations. The aim of a lot of entrepreneurs in China is to: firstly, get big; secondly, do it quickly; thirdly, IPO. Because that is the only way to demonstrate the value therein.

为什么现在很多长租公寓企业阵亡了？扩张太快，但能力承受不了那么快的速度。他们的模式是做贸易的差价模式，比如，公寓的抢楼就像“面粉比面包贵”，房租5000块钱，我6000块拿下，为了竞争，另一个品牌用7000块买下，那其实对外的市场行情就是5500块，所以每个人都是亏的。后面怎么可持续发展？很多企业不得不进入“融资——烧钱”的模式。

Why is it that a lot of long-term rental businesses have fallen over recently? They expanded too quickly but did not have the ability to shoulder that rapid pace. They adopted a differential pricing model in commerce. For example, the way apartments have been snapped up has been akin to considering “flour more valuable than bread. The rent might be 5,000 RMB. I’ll grab it for 6,000, but another brand will purchase it for 7,000 to be competitive, but the actual situation in the market externally is that it is worth 5,500, and so everyone involved is at a loss. How are they going to grow sustainably after that? Many companies have no choice but to go into a model of “get financing – burn cash”.

作为创业者，我也想做大规模，也想尽快上市。但新派尝试了几个模式后，发现最流行的二房东模式是不赚钱的，最难做的重资产模式却盈利不错，前期公寓疯狂扩张的模式成了规模不经济模式。于是我们决定慢下来，不被规模诱惑，不被速度苦恼，静下心打造可以健康增长的系统与价值。新派开始对标美国一个极具特色的汉堡企业 Pal’s, 它从创立至今60年，开了不到30家，但却是是美国同行中单平米销售额以及利润第一的企业，它把流程、品质做到了极致。新派当然不需要像Pal’s发展的那么慢，但从它的身上，新派找到了持续健康增长的密钥。

As an entrepreneur, I would also like to scale up and list quickly. However, CYPA found that the most popular model – the “middleman landlord model” – does not make money following our trials of several models. The most challenging is the heavy asset model but its profits are quite decent. However, the model involving an initial phase of frenzied apartment expansion turns into a “diseconomy of scale” So we have decided to slow things down: not to be enticed by size, not to be vexed by speed, but to be measured and to create systems and value that can grow in a healthy way. CYPA has started to look to one of the United States’ most remarkable hamburger companies, Pal’s, for a benchmark. Pal’s was founded 60 years ago and has opened less than 30 stores, yet it is the top company in the US in its industry for retail sales and profit per square meter. They have refined their processes and quality to the apex. Of course, CYPA does not need to grow as slowly as Pal’s, but it is from them that we have found a secret key to sustainable and healthy growth.

我更愿意关注自己10年后是什么样子，做企业就像跑马拉松，我关注的是节奏。作为一个企业，要把自己的膝盖和心脏先打造好，才能该快则快，该慢则慢。

I’d prefer to look at how I’ll be going in 10 years. Business is like running a marathon: I’m focused on my pace. As a business, I’m going to want to start by getting my knees and heart in proper shape if I want to proceed at just the right tempo.

2017年11月，为响应中央“房住不炒”的政策，新派公寓率先在深交所发行了中国第一支住房租赁资产类REITs，成为“金融服务实体经济”以及中国房地产转型与金融创新的先锋标杆企业。

China Young Professionals Apartments took the lead in launching China’s first residential rental asset-style REIT on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in November 2017 in response to the release of the central government’s “houses are for living, not speculating” policy. CYPA thus became a pioneer and industry benchmark for “finance servicing the real economy” and for real estate transformation and financial innovation in China.

2018年3月，新派公寓与建设银行发起住房租赁资产证券化专项并购基金，开创了大型国有金融机构与品牌运营商合作设立以盘活城市存量资产为目标的专业并购基金的先河。

China Young Professionals Apartments partnered with China Construction Bank to launch a dedicated residential asset securitization buyout fund in March 2018, breaking new ground with a specialized buyout fund established together with large state-owned financial institutions and a brand operator to revitalize municipal asset stocks.

2019年年初，新派公寓作为试点单位，协助人民银行及证监会推行公募REITs，与中粮及南京未来科技城合作探索国内高层次人才公寓创新模式。

China Young Professionals Apartments served as a pilot organization at the beginning of 2019 in helping the People’s Bank of China and China Securities Regulatory Commission launch a public REIT, and partnered with COFCO and Nanjing Future Science and Technology City to look more closely at innovative apartment models for elite professionals in China.

Will CYPA not be facing competitors
in 10 years?

艾诚：长租公寓并不是一个短期赚钱的行业，新派公寓打算给这个行业带来什么变化？

Gloria Ai: The long-term apartment rental market is not an industry for short-term profit taking. What sorts of changes are China Young Professionals Apartments planning to bring to this industry?

王戈宏：长租公寓行业未来肯定会赚钱的。那些在长租公寓已经阵亡的企业证明了有些商业模式确实行不通，新派在前人的肩膀上前进，吸取经验教训，将更有可能成功。

Wang Gehong: The long-term apartment rental industry will certainly be making money as we go into the future. The long-term apartment rental businesses that have fallen over demonstrate there are indeed some business models that don’t work. CYPA is advancing on the shoulders of those who have gone before and learning the lessons in their experiences, giving us a greater chance of success.

目前新派打造了四个细分市场产品，创客公寓、白领公寓、精品公寓、家庭公寓，为消费者、也为资方创造闭环：买楼——改造——资产证券化——变现。这是很有价值的，目前来说，在同行里面真正走完全程的只有新派。

Currently, CYPA has created four sub-categories ofproducts in the market: “maker”apartments, “white collar worker” apartments, “elite” apartments, and “family apartments. We have also created a “closed loop” forconsumers and capital: apartment acquisition — refurbishment — assetsecuritization — monetization. This offers a lot of value. Currently speaking, only CYPA has really and fully traversed this path in ourindustry.

艾诚：你觉得国内的长租公寓市场未来会产生什么变化？

Gloria Ai: What kind of changes do you think lie in store for the long-term apartment rental market in China?

王戈宏：中国酒店市场开发得非常好。例如华住、汉庭、如家等，入局者很多。而在美国时我却发现美国人住的都是公寓，年轻人很少讨论买房子，都是在谈论自己在哪里租房，哪个apartment比较酷。

Wang Gehong: China’s hotel market is very well developed. For example, Huazhu, Hanting, Home Inn and so on – there have been a lot of entrants. But what I found when I was in the US was that Americans would always stay in apartments, and young people would very rarely discuss purchasing property, but would discuss where they should rent and which apartments were relatively cooler instead.

我有一个直觉，未来中国的前十大城市会很像美国，中国年轻人可能不再买房子了，中国的话题也不再聚焦房子，而是租房。我不是在做房地产，而是在做一个中国年轻人居住观念转变之后的消费品，房地产市场不再只是单纯的买卖关系。全世界所有成熟的城市，纽约、东京、巴黎的租赁都很发达，衡量一个城市能不能成为国际城市，是租赁关系，不是买卖关系。所以只有租赁发达了，城市才发达，因为它能容纳更多的人。

My intuition is that the top 10 major metropolitan cities of China will look a lot more like the US in the future: young people in China might not purchase properties, and topics of conversation in China might no longer revolve around property, but renting. I’m not doing real estate right now, but actually a consumer product subsequent to the transformation in concepts around accommodation for China’s youth. The real estate market will no longer just revolve around buying and selling relationships. Renting in all of the world’s sophisticated cities – New York, Tokyo and Paris – is all very mature, and the evaluation of whether or not a city can be classified as international relates to renting there, not buying and selling its property. So a city can only be developed once its renting is matured as then it can hold more people.

艾诚：预见未来，十年后的新派公寓会怎么样？十年后的王戈宏呢？

Gloria Ai: Looking to the future, what will China Young Professionals Apartments look like in 10 years’ time? What about Wang Gehong in 10 years’ time?

王戈宏：我特别欣赏亚马逊创始人贝佐斯说的一句话：如果你的眼光只在三到五年之后，你的身边全是竞争者，尤其是在日新月异的高科技互联网时代。如果你的眼光在十年之后，那几乎没有竞争对手。

Wang Gehong: I can really appreciate a line from the founder of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos: If you’re just focused on 3 to 5 years from now, then there will be a lot of competitors all around you, particularly in our fast moving, high-tech Internet era. If you’re looking at 10 years from now, there will be almost no competitors.

十年后，我一定不在一线，我的长处是做REITs。未来我最大的理想是真正能做一个中国的公寓公募REITs。我特别希望有人来传承新派为消费者，为资产创造价值的精神，我一定是站在新派背后的那个人。我希望新派未来会成为一个图腾，一个理念，一个有价值的品牌，永远存在。

I am sure I will not be on the “ront lines” after 10 years – my strength is in handling REITs. My greatest aspiration in the future is to really be able to implement public apartment REITs in China. I really hope others will come along to carry on CYPA’s spirit of value creation for consumers and assets. I’ll definitely be standing behind and backing CYPA. My hope is that CYPA can become a figure, idea, and valuable brand with genuine permanence.