SG Private Home Sales Surged 82% in March and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Property fever leads the headlines region-wide today, as even some of Asia’s once dormant markets sprung to new levels of activity in March. After a long slump post-stamp duty, sales of private homes in Singapore jumped 82 percent last month with transaction values rising by 180 percent in Hong Kong during the first quarters. Read on for all the details.

SG Private Home Sales Surged 82% in March

Sales of new private homes defied expectations to surge to a near four-year high last month, when some property cooling measures were adjusted for the first time since they were first implemented in 2009.

Developers sold 1,780 new units – excluding executive condos (ECs) – up about 82 per cent from the 979 homes booked in February. This was also more than double the 843 homes shifted in March last year. Read more>>

Hong Kong Home Sales Jumped 180% in Q1

Hong Kong’s home buying fever continued unabated in the first quarter, after purchasers splashed out a record HK$47.5 billion (US$6.11 billion) on new apartments – the biggest buying spree ever, according to the latest figures from Midland Realty, the city’s only listed property agent.

But industry experts are now predicting the trend to slow considerably, after the Hong Kong government new policy last week, whereby any local first-time buyer of multiple units in one contract must now pay a 15 per cent stamp duty for each flat bought, finally closing a legal loophole left open since November. Read more>>

Beijing Home Sales Drop 66% After New Market Curbs

The property market in Beijing is freezing up after the city government took the lead to step up control measures on home purchases a month ago.

Under a spate of heavy-handed curbs launched since March 17, sales in the primary and secondary residential markets in the city have slumped while apartments built on commercial and office land, an alternative product, also faced a bleak future. Read more>>

China Mortgage Growth Drops in Q1

Credit flow to Chinese developers has slowed to a trickle after authorities further tightened the screws on funding sources since March, leaving overseas financing as one of the few options left for home builders.

In China, bank credit flows to developers mainly through mortgages. In the first quarter medium to long-term household loans – mostly mortgages – grew by 1.46 trillion yuan (US$212 billion), accounting for 34.6 per cent of total loan growth, according to the People’s Bank of China. Read more>>

Ascendas REIT to Buy Indian Warehouse Portfolio

Ascendas Property Fund Trustee has decided to acquire six warehouses totalling 8.32 lakh square feet of Arshiya at its Free Trade and Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) located at Panvel, near Mumbai for a gross consideration of Rs 534 crore.

Arshiya entered into a binding term sheet with Ascendas Property Fund Trustee, whereby APFT, in its capacity as trustee-manager of Ascendas India Trust, has agreed, subject to satisfactory due-diligence, agreement on definitive documentation and obtaining necessary board approvals, to acquire 6 warehouses (totaling 8,32,000 sq ft.) of Arshiya at its Free Trade & Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) located at Panvel, near Mumbai, Arshiya said. Read more>>

Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.