(Yicai Global) Oct. 23 -- Real estate developer Country Garden Holdings Ltd. [HK:2007], based in China's southeastern Guangdong province, plans to inaugurate its first long-term rental apartment in Shanghai, which will come onto the market as soon as the end of this year.

Country Garden set up its long-term rental apartment division in Shanghai earlier this year, 21 Jingji.com reported today, and the first long term rental apartments will debut in the city's Hongqiao district by year's end, city officials said.

The company shall also ply this business in other areas of the city in next year's first quarter, and plans to open 10,000 apartments in Shanghai within three years.

County Garden aims to build high-end long-term rental apartment products. The first batch of apartments will be 30-40 square meters in size on average, and some units will also have landscaped gardens to prioritize amenities.

Shanghai is one of the central government's planned rental housing pilot cities, per a policy opinion issued one month ago. Shanghai will significantly increase the supply of rental housing land by 2020. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) will become the main force promoting the business, which will seek to further attract more enterprise investment after upping market supply.

Country Garden is thus actively seeking cooperation with SOEs and rural collectives in Shanghai.