Making flags in China is okay, but some in the US want China’s SOEs to stop buying American companies
Friday brings good news for Wheelock while Hong Kong homebuyers and China’s state owned enterprises are probably looking forward to get the week done with. Starting with the good, Wheelock won a residential site in its home market for HK$6.39 billion ($823 million). In the not so good column, SOEs in China may be banned from acquiring U.S. companies and the dream of owning a home for Hong Kong’s younger residents is dying.
US Panel Urges Ban On China State Firms Buying US Companies
U.S. lawmakers should take action to ban China’s state-owned firms from acquiring U.S. companies, a congressional panel charged with monitoring security and trade links between Washington and Beijing said.
In its annual report to Congress, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said the Chinese Communist Party has used state-backed enterprises as the primary economic tool to advance and achieve its national security objectives. The report recommended Congress prohibit U.S. acquisitions by such entities by changing the mandate of CFIUS, the U.S. government body that conducts security reviews of proposed acquisitions by foreign firms. Read more>>
Top China Developers Battle For Beijing Land Site
Land put up for auction in Beijing’s northwestern Haidian district failed to find a buyer on Wednesday after bidding hit a price ceiling set by the municipal government as it expands efforts to cool the sizzling property market.
The government did not select winning bids for two land parcels because all four bidding developers met the tighter new land sale rules that require buyers to keep residential developments built on the sites as long-term investments for rental and not for sale. In a move to cool down the red-hot housing market in the capital city, the municipal government set tougher requirements on the sale of two sites auctioned. Read more>>
Wheelock Snaps Up Kwun Tong Site For HK$6.39B
The first residential site sold since the introduction of the latest property cooling measures, a 196,550-square-foot area in Kwung Tong, has gone to developer Wheelock for HK$6.39 billion – about 7 percent above the upper limit of market valuations.
Wheelock Properties managing director Ricky Wong Kwong-yiu said the price was reasonable, and he expects the company to invest about HK$10 billion in the project on Kwun Tong Sin Fat Road. The latest cooling measures, he added, are expected to have a short-term effect on the homes market. Read more>>
Dream Of Owning A Home Is Over For Most Young Hong Kong People
Soaring property prices have broken home ownership dreams among Hong Kong’s youth, with the number of those intending to buy a flat having halved over the past decade, according to a survey.
Those who are still interested expect to work for up to 25 years before they can buy their first home, the study by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups found. Of the 800 survey respondents, aged 18 to 34, only 213 intended to get on the property ladder – a drop to below 27 per cent from 55 per cent in 2006. Read more>>
Burberry Gets Discount For Rent At HK Mall
UK luxury brand Burberry has reportedly extended its rental contract on a three-storey store in Tsim Sha Tsui’s Silvercord Mall, clinching a 30 percent cut in monthly rent to HK$4.5 million. The store occupies a total floor area of about 10,140 square feet and the rent before the extension was HK$6.5 million.
The landlord of the store, Chinese Estates, the largest shareholder of which is Joseph Lau Luen-hung, was apparently looking to rent the shop out for HK$6.5 million earlier this year. Read more>>
Mainland Homebuilders Start Building Teams In India
Chinese real estate developers China Fortune Land Development Co. Ltd (CFLD) and Country Garden are building up teams in key cities such as Mumbai and Gurgaon, and are close to forming local partnerships to enter the Indian real estate market, two people closely involved with the development said.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange-listed CFLD is looking to hire around 15 senior management personnel, including heads of real estate businesses (residential), regions, legal and strategy, to set up offices in Mumbai and Gurgaon, said the first person. Some senior managerial roles such as chief financial officer and head of human resource (HR) have already been filled. Read more>>
Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter for headlines as they happen.
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