Lacking other developed methods for personal investment, real estate has become a popular avenue for investment around China. In Nanjing, this has become very clear over the last few years, as per square meter apartment prices have skyrocketed in many areas of the city. Some areas have seen prices more than double. An important and rapidly developing submarket of the real estate sector is the store stall market.

Compared to apartment blocks, returns on investment can be considerably more lucrative; store stalls in the touristy Confucius Temple area of Nanjing a usually rented out for 300 RMB per square meter per month, and these prices can get considerably higher in upper end districts around the city. Thus, buying store stalls and subletting them has become a popular method of investment for those with the money to pursue it.

Nanjing has many promising commercial centers currently taking shape. Near the traditional downtown area of Xinjiekou, the New Century Plaza and the Nanjing 1912 Street are both nearing construction; further removed from the center of the city is the Hexi New City area which promises to take a leading role in the future course of development as more and more construction projects in that come to fruition.

Ongoing projects to expand and improve the existing commercial centers of Xinjiekou, the Confucius Temple area, Hunan Street, and Zhonghuamen are also serving to provide hundreds of square meters worth of merchandise store stalls. Some areas, such as Zhujiang Road¨CNanjing's premiere electronics and computer hub¨Chave engaged in store stall sales well before construction was complete on the stalls being sold. Business attraction for the store space of Nanjing's many subway stations that will begin operations next year have been ongoing for several months now.

Prices vary considerably from area to area, with stall space at the new computer centers along Zhujiang Road as well as Xinjiekou and Hunan road demanding the highest prices, while the Confucius Temple area and Zhonghuamen are more reasonably priced. With all this new store stall area being built, the options for investment are many.
Although investment in store stalls does promise higher per square meter returns when rented out, most experts agree that the risk in investing in store stalls is considerably higher than investing in apartments.

The most obvious risk is that consumer spending trends will change from robust to slow in existing commercial centers, or will not ever materialize in new commercial areas. The sheer amount of store space that is coming into the market seems to suggest that there will be winners and losers among all this commercial spacing. Also, investors need to be conscience of other auxiliary costs, including facilities management, and other bills that come up with owning a store stall. Beyond this is the fact that by and large, these store stalls are not actually sold outright, instead they are leased out for extended periods of time. Leases are usually either 35 years, 40 years, or 50 years; and when time expires they need to be re-leased. There are many advantages for the longer term leases, and investors have been gravitating towards those over the shorter 35 year leases. This is a cost to take into consideration, but even for the short 35 year leases, return on investment is quite lucrative, especially when one takes into account inflation over long term periods.

Another issue facing investors in store stalls is that banks rarely give purchase loans to investors. Even with an easily demonstrated and very high return on investment rate, banks are very slow to accept and approve applications for such loans. The main reason for this comes back to the fact that individual store stalls are reliant on the complex of which they are a part of for many conditions that prop up their successful operations. With no direct control over the building that the store stall is located in, investors applying for loans will always have to deal with this bit of uncertainty. This has resulted in driving up the entry barriers for investing in store stalls, for investors need to put down all the money upfront instead of making a down payment and going through a bank for the rest.

Even with considerable cost barriers to entry into this market, and higher risk than other sectors of the real estate market, the store stall market is attracting a lot of attention for its promises of higher payoffs. As the market further develops, it will likely become a major revenue source for private investors around the city.