We now move on to the Q&A session. As the briefing is currently on webcast, please raise your hand and wait for the mic for your questions. Please let us know your name and organization, and please ask no more than two questions at a time. We now take the first question from the floor. This gentleman on the second row, please.
Thanks, Tim and Fanny. It's Ken from Citi. I have two questions. First is on China retail. Can you share with us the latest recovery in terms of the tenant sales, say, in June and July post the COVID resurgence, the capitalization? How do we see the recovery path of this tenant sales back to your pre-China COVID or China lockdown level? I also want to check on your China retail rental income. It has been quite strong, up 9%. Have that been taking into account the second quarter, the negative impact in terms of the retail sales? I think this is the first question. The second question is on the capital management. Your parent, Swire Pacific, has announced a very exciting HKD 4 billion share buyback plan.
I know that you have set around mid-single digit bps growth already. How should we consider that your parent doing buyback and you, will you consider doing something similar?
Ken, thank you. Thank you for your question. Maybe I'll take the first question, Fanny, if you take the second question. Ken, just in terms of China retail, I would say we're, you know, seeing across the cities in which we operate, we're seeing a slightly different picture as far as the recovery is concerned. I would say we would describe it as a steady recovery, but not as an aggressive rebound as we saw in 2021. I mean, we're pleased that, for example, Taikoo Li in Qiantan was the first mall, one of the first malls to reopen in Shanghai, and we've continued to see that improvement with steady recovery in footfall.
The issue we've been seeing in the Chinese mainland is that as we see the recoveries, we've had these sporadic and sort of spotty outbreaks, and that's caused us to have to react and respond quickly. I think, you know, we're getting better at it, and we're seeing that the recovery cycle is much quicker. It's accelerating as the local government gets more comfortable with the preventive measures that are required. I mean, most recently, if we look at the recovery in Shanghai, we, you know, we're seeing steady progress. Beijing, things are a little bit slower, and I think that will be the trend for the next couple of months.
In Chengdu, we were seeing strong recovery, and then recently we've had some small outbreaks, which, of course, footfall to reduce. Over the last couple of weeks, actually footfall has come back quite strongly in Chengdu. In Guangzhou, it's been stable, and we've seen strong footfall and strong sales on a sustained basis. The outlook is a bit mixed, but I'd say the trend generally is for steady recovery in the second half. Your question on sales growth, that factors in the impact of the second quarter as well.
Okay. Ken, on share buyback. First of all, Swire Pacific and Swire Properties independently assess our capital allocation plans. We also consider share buyback in our capital allocation, along with new investments. The two options are not mutually exclusive, and we do not rule out the share buyback. As you know, we have a very strong pipelines of new investment, and we are making good progress on new investment as well. The pipeline, if successfully delivered, would scale up our other project and strengthen our brands and driving sustainable rental growth and, in turn, dividend growth in the long run. Swire Pacific's announcement also indicates that the group is supportive of share buyback. For Swire Properties, we will continue to review the share buyback option, taking into account the various factors there.
Thank you. We'll take the second question. The gentleman on the third row.
Hi. Karl Choi from Bank of America. I have a couple questions. First one is on China. The group is obviously making a big commitment to mainland China with the HKD 50 billion budget for investment. As the country goes through a cyclical downturn, knowing that you are making long-term investment, but would you or have you made any adjustments in terms of the types of projects, cities, locations, and also importantly, returns when you look at new investments? Second is, you know, we look at some of your investment properties in China, if some of the opportunities come up for you to buy out your stakes from your joint venture partners, would you consider that?
Okay. Thank you for the question. I think in sort of four parts. I think obviously the current situation in the Chinese mainland, we see as short-term challenge, which, you know, we're confident that we'll see through. As far as the types of projects, the types of properties we're looking at, we see no change to our strategy. Our priority in Chinese mainland is still to look for retail-led mixed-use opportunities in Tier One cities, with a focus on Tier One cities, emerging Tier One cities and the Greater Bay Area, and there's no change to that strategy. Similarly, we don't see any need to change our kind of expectations in terms of returns.
We still think we have a pipeline of very strong projects, which can meet our requirements. With regards to your final question was, are we interested in buying out partners in any of our projects? I think, you know, we have a range of different projects in the Chinese mainland with different partners, which range from government to SOEs, to Hong Kong-listed mainland developers, to Hong Kong-based developers. You know, we take a different approach to different projects, but no plans at this stage. Generally as a rule, you know, we're always looking to reinforce our assets and continue to build on the strengths of our portfolios in each city.
Thank you. May I invite more question from the floor? If no, that concludes our analyst briefing today. Thank you for joining us.