CC Land Boss Wins Approval for £500M London Palace and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, a Hong Kong tycoon wins permission to build his eight-storey central London hideaway, the kings of Causeway Bay snap up another slice of the premier retail district, and a Texas-based private equity player retreats from Asia.

CC Land Boss Wins Approval for £500M London Palace

A Chinese billionaire has been granted planning permission to construct an eight-storey, 5,760 square metre (62,000 square foot) private palace overlooking Hyde Park in central London.

The Westminster city council granted Cheung Chung-kiu, a Hong Kong-based property tycoon, permission to partly demolish and reconstruct 2-8A Rutland Gate in Knightsbridge in order to create his vast new home, which experts said could be worth up to £500 million ($687.7 million) when completed. Read more>>

Hysan Spends $103M to Buy Up More of Causeway Bay

Hysan Development has acquired 85-89 Percival Street in Causeway Bay in 14 deals, amounting to HK$800 million ($103 million) in total.

The most expensive deal was a ground-floor shop at 85 Percival Street for a price of HK$260 million. All properties were purchased by Prehnite Investments. Its director is Chiu Ming-king, who is also a director of Hysan’s subsidiary. Read more>>

Lone Star Funds Lays Off Majority of Asia Staff in Regional Retreat

Texas-based private equity firm Lone Star Funds has laid off most of its investment team in Asia outside Japan in a major retreat from the region, three people familiar with the situation told Reuters.

The firm let go of about 25 investment professionals in its mainland China, Hong Kong and India offices on 8 July, effective immediately, said two of the people, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. Read more>>

Sabana REIT to Remove Syariah-Compliance Requirement

Sabana Shari’ah Compliant Industrial REIT will no longer be bound by the requirement for its business to be managed in compliance with syariah investment principles, the trust’s manager said on Thursday.

The REIT’s revised investment mandate will be to principally invest in income-producing real estate used for industrial purposes in Asia, as well as real-estate-related assets. Read more>>

Singapore Property Investment Rebounds Across All Sectors

Singapore’s residential market climbed 96.4 percent from the previous quarter to S$3.1 billion ($2.3 billion) in Q2 2021 on the back of strong tenders for government land sale sites and positive buying sentiment in the resale and new launch market, according to a Colliers investment report. Private land sales through collective sales are also set to recover later this year, Colliers said.

The last quarter saw shophouse transactions rebound by 132 percent on a quarterly basis to S$310 million, after the sector declined 53.6 percent in Q1. Meanwhile, commercial sales rose 24 percent on the back of several major deals. Read more>>

JLL Warns of Bangkok Property Market Slowdown

All property sectors except industrial and logistics should brace for a market slowdown of at least 18 months after economic recovery next year, according to property consultant JLL Thailand.

The office, condo, hotel and retail market in Bangkok is facing a downturn with a decline in rents, prices and occupancies, but the market for industrial, logistics and warehouse segments is moving in the opposite direction, JLL said. Read more>>

Suntec REIT Posts 26.1% Rise H1 2021 DPU

Suntec REIT’s distribution per unit rose 26.1 percent to 4.154 Singapore cents ($0.03) for the six-month period ended 30 June 2021, up from 3.293 Singapore cents for the same period a year ago.

DPU for the quarter ended 30 June 2021 was 2.109 Singapore cents, up 37.6 percent from 1.533 Singapore cents a year earlier. Read more>>

ARA Logos H1 DPU Up 10.6% on Revenue From Aussie Acquisition

ARA Logos’s distribution per unit rose 10.6 percent to 2.57 Singapore cents ($0.02) for the first half ended 30 June 2021, up from 2.323 Singapore cents the year before.

The growth in H1 2021 DPU came despite the enlarged unit base from the issuance of new units in relation to ARA Logos’s maiden Australian portfolio acquisition from its sponsor Logos, the REIT’s manager said in a bourse filing on Thursday. Read more>>

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