Gree Real Estate’s boss is being investigated for insider trading
In 2021’s first roundup of regional news headlines, a mainland developer’s stock dives as an insider-trading inquiry is revealed, an agreement on a mixed-use project in Singapore’s Tanah Merah region takes shape, and a Hong Kong survey finds the coronavirus still looming large in the city’s depressed property market.
Mainland Developer’s Shares Slide as Chairman Investigated
Gree Real Estate’s stock price fell by the daily trading limit on 31 December after the Chinese property developer said the authorities were investigating its chairman over suspected insider trading. The probe could derail the firm’s planned $1.87 billion acquisition of a leading duty-free retailer.
State-owned Gree Real Estate revealed at the end of last month that Lu Junsi had received a notice from the China Securities Regulatory Commission that he was being probed on suspicion of insider trading. It did not disclose details of the breach. Read more>>
Mainland Developer MCC Welcomes Partner to SG Mixed-Use Project
The Place Holdings has entered into a shareholders’ agreement with MCC Land (Singapore) and Ekovest Development (S) to jointly develop a 99-year lease site in Tanah Merah into a mixed residential development.
The land parcel next to Tanah Merah MRT station was acquired by MCC Land for S$248.99 million ($189.1 million) in November 2020 and can yield 265 condominium units and 2,000 square metres (21,528 square feet) of commercial space. Read more>>
Hong Kong Recession Depresses 2021 Real Estate Outlook
The coronavirus pandemic will continue to weigh on all segments of Hong Kong’s property market this year. From mass housing to luxury residences, from offices to shops, no major segment will be spared from the recession and rising unemployment, analysts say.
A straw poll of 20 analysts, agencies and developers by the South China Morning Post on housing prices in 2021 showed that six expect them to drop and seven were unsure. Only seven predicted outright gains. Read more>>
Nano Flats Now Nearly 13% of Hong Kong Housing Market
In the world’s least affordable housing market, one in eight homes sold is a nano apartment, a term widely used to describe tiny homes in Hong Kong.
A record 13 percent of apartments sold in 2019 were less than 260 square feet (24 square metres), or smaller than two car-parking spaces, according to a report by Liber Research Community released Monday. These tiny units accounted for just 0.2 percent of total sales in 2010. Read more>>
China New Home Price Growth Slows in December
Prices of new homes in China rose at a slower pace in December, with tightening policies continuing to cool the market, a private survey showed, but price growth in 2020 still topped the previous year’s pace despite the novel coronavirus pandemic.
New home prices in 100 cities rose 0.25 percent in December from a month earlier versus a 0.32 percent gain in November, moderating for the second straight month, according to data from China Index Academy, one of the country’s largest independent real estate research firms. Read more>>
Mixed-Use Project on SG’s Keppel Road Heads for Mid-Feb Launch
Real estate management services group LHN is planning to launch a mixed-use development at 1557 Keppel Road by mid-February 2021.
The integrated space, which is located at the fringe of the central business district, will be used for commercial and residential purposes. It consists of three blocks spanning over 96,299 square feet (8,946 square metres), Catalist-listed LHN said in a bourse filing on Monday. Read more>>
London Luxury Housing Slump Stings Asian Developers
On the edge of London’s Canary Wharf district, the tallest residential skyscraper in western Europe was due to open this year. The Spire London’s hype gushed about the possibility of drones delivering food to residents in between their visits to the tower’s cinema and swimming pool.
Instead, all that’s rising from the board-up site owned by Chinese developer Greenland Holdings Corp is weeds. Read more>>
New Supply of India Office Space Down 30-35% in 2020
Fresh supply of office space fell 30-35 percent year-on-year in 2020 across major cities in India, mainly on lower demand because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to property consultants JLL and Savills. While JLL India reported that the new supply of office space across seven major cities declined 30 percent to 36.34 million square feet (3.38 million square metres) in 2020 from 51.62 million square feet in the previous year, UK-based Savills said fresh supply dropped to 30.6 million square feet from 47.1 million square feet across six big cities.
New office space supply was less impacted than demand, which fell by 45-50 percent, with corporates deferring their expansion plans and adopting a work-from-home policy for employees. Supply was also hit by the nationwide lockdown that brought all construction activity to a standstill during April-May. Read more>>
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