What: IKEA's shopping malls business has kicked off the sales process for some 500 flats at its first-ever mixed-use retail and residential development in southern China.

Why it is important: With housing, it is testing yet another income leg, banking on the rapid urbanisation in China.

Ingka Centres has 45 malls anchored by IKEA furniture stores across Europe, Russia, and China (under the brand Livat). The company has shifted towards more entertainment and social spaces in its developments as consumers, in China in particular, increasingly shop online while visiting malls more for food or movies.

The Livat Changsha residential building offers flats, common living, and work spaces, designed by IKEA. The hope is to appeal to people working from home. Residents should start moving in by March 2022.

EXCLUSIVE IKEA's malls arm branches out into housing with new centre in China