China Home Price Growth Jumped in January and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In this edition of Mingtiandi’s regional news roundup, China’s home-price growth speeds up as low inventory spurs demand, Hong Kong retains its crown as the world’s least affordable housing market, and Singapore is the latest outpost of a private equity firm with ties to a former Chinese president.

China Home Prices Shake Off Fresh Curbs to Resume Faster Growth

China’s home-price growth accelerated in January as low inventory stoked a fear of missing out among buyers, even as authorities widened curbs.

New home prices in 70 major cities, excluding state-subsidised housing, rose 0.28 percent last month from December, after climbing 0.12 percent in each of the previous two months, National Bureau of Statistics figures showed on Tuesday. Values in the secondary market, which faces less government intervention, gained 0.37 percent, the fastest in 18 months. Read more>>

Hong Kong Homes Ranked World’s Least Affordable for 11th Year

Hong Kong remained the world’s least affordable housing market for the 11th year, underscoring the income disparity in the finance capital.

The Asian hub topped Vancouver, Sydney and Auckland as the most unaffordable residential market in the world last year, according to a report published by think tanks Urban Reform Institute and Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Hong Kong’s median property price dropped slightly to 20.7 times its median household income in 2020, from 20.8 times the year before. Read more>>

New World Searches for M&A Chief to Drive Acquisitions

New World Development is looking for a rainmaker to lead dealmaking for the Hong Kong real estate developer that has been diversifying into areas other than property, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company is in the process of searching for a senior executive to oversee its merger and acquisition activities and look for opportunities in areas such as health care and logistics, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. Read more>>

Co-Founders of Chinese Private Equity Firm Boyu Build Singapore Base

Two co-founders of China’s Boyu Capital, a private equity firm set up by a grandson of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, have relocated to Singapore with a share of the company’s operations from its Hong Kong headquarters, according to people briefed on the move.

Boyu’s tilt towards the Southeast Asian city-state was mainly driven by concerns over the ebbing clout of the elder Jiang, 94 years old, whose patronage has buttressed the firm’s success, the people said. Read more>>

Influx of Hongkongers Fails to Stem London’s Posh Home Slide

An influx of cash-rich Hong Kong buyers is barely making a dent in London’s ailing luxury property market.

Hong Kong buyers quadrupled their proportion of purchases of homes in London’s wealthiest areas last year, snapping up almost one in 10 sold, according to a report from estate agent Hamptons International. Still, overall sales of luxury properties tumbled 13 percent as the pandemic spurred the richest buyers to look to the countryside. Read more>>

Indebted Mainland Developers Look to Policy Meetings for Relief

China’s property developers, who replaced managers of decrepit state-owned factories as the nation’s largest debtors, will be in the hot seat when they show up next week at the Great Hall of the People for their annual legislative meeting in Beijing.

Fifteen of the 5,138 delegates attending the Two Sessions are real estate developers, owning or heading property companies with RMB 2.44 trillion ($377 billion) of short-term borrowings and long-term loans between them, according to calculations by the South China Morning Post based on financial filings. Read more>>

PE Firm Navis Mulling Sale of Malaysian Supermarket Owner

Asian buyout firm Navis Capital Partners is exploring a sale of premium supermarket chains in Malaysia, which could be worth about MYR 1 billion ($250 million), according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The firm is asking banks to submit proposals on the potential divestment of The Food Purveyor, the vehicle that owns the Village Grocer and Ben’s Independent Grocer supermarkets, said the people. The Kuala Lumpur-based firm bought a majority stake in The Food Purveyor, then known as Village Grocer Holdings, in 2014, according to the retail company’s website. Read more>>

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