Citic Jumps Back into Homebuilding for RMB9.92B and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

After selling off its residential projects last, China’s Citic Pacific is taking on another project – this time investing RMB 9.92 billion in Wuhan. Also in the headlines today, Yanlord ups its share of a Shenzhen project, and Country Garden’s Malaysian megaproject is taking heat from the country’s former PM. Read on for all these stories and more.

Citic Jumps Back into Homebuilding with RMB9.92B Wuhan Site

Citic Pacific China Holdings, the property unit of the country’s largest state-owned conglomerate Citic Ltd, has agreed to pay 9.92 billion yuan (HK$11.18 billion) to buy a piece of land in the Hubei provincial capital of Wuhan, returning to building apartments a year after disposing of its residential property portfolio to a rival.

Citic Pacific’s Wuhan land parcel, located northeast of the city’s central business district on the western bank of the Yangtze River, has an area of 229,040 sq metres, according to the Wuhan Land Market Net, the official online platform for land sale data. Read more>>

Yanlord Ups Stake in Shenzhen Project for RMB1.7B

Singapore-listed China residential property developer Yanlord Land Group said on Tuesday evening that it has acquired an additional interest of 19.9 per cent in Shenzhen Long Wei Xin Investment Co for 1.665 billion yuan (S$343 million) on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis.

The net tangible asset (NTA) value of the acquisition based on the accounts at end-2016 was about 113 million yuan, Yanlord said. The NTA reflects the historical value of the land. Read more>>

Mahathir Slams Country Garden Malaysia Project as Foreign Enclave

The Chinese developer of a mega-project in Johor is trying to dampen fears sparked by China’s rising visibility in Malaysia.

Forest City, which has seen thousands of flats sold since construction began exactly a year ago, has been the subject of some alarm in the country as potential buyers from mainland China flock to the Iskandar Malaysia zone. Leaders such as former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad have warned that the development will amount to a “foreign enclave”, while others say the project may weaken property prices. Read more>>

Hong Kong’s K Wah Hikes Prices 24% for Latest Kai Tak Project

K Wah International has launched the second residential development to go on sale at Kai Tak, the site of Hong Kong’s former airport, with units priced 24 per cent higher than the debut project six months ago.

K Wah on Thursday released the price list for the first batch of 180 units at K. City at an average of HK$17,998 per square foot, after factoring in a discount of as much as 15.5 per cent. Read more>>

GLP Profits Dip 4.8% in Latest Quarter

Singapore’s leading logistic company Global Logistic Properties said net profit in the quarter ending December 31 edged down by 4.8 percent. The dip in net earnings to $363m (US$256.1m) was due largely to a one-time US syndication gain last year, the company said.

GLP, one of the world’s largest real estate fund managers with assets under management of US$38 billion, said the dip in net profit does not reflect the company’s global business prospects.”New developments are proceeding at a healthy pace, in line with our projections, as we continue to maintain sound investment discipline while growing our portfolio. Read more>>

Beijing Shortens Mortgage Terms to Clamp Down on Housing Market

Beijing’s government has shortened the mortgage duration of second-home borrowers domiciled in the city, taking another step to clamp down on speculative home buying and control runaway prices.

Buyers who already own one residential property are now only eligible to take out a mortgage on a second home for no more than 25 years, cutting back the loan period from the previous 30 years, according to several agents in the city. Read more>>

Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter for headlines as they happen.