Sunac chairman Sun Hongbin has a few things to worry about
In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, debt-saddled developer Sunac China Holdings is reportedly shopping its stake in a Shenzhen snow park project, the city of Suzhou moves to ease homebuying rules to spur sales, and declining GDP clouds Hong Kong’s commercial property picture.
Sunac Flogging Stake in World’s Biggest Indoor Snow Park
Real estate giant Sunac China Holdings is in talks with potential buyers to sell its stake in the world’s largest indoor ice and snow playground currently under development in Shenzhen, The Paper reported today.
The equity sale is still being negotiated, the report said. The buyer has yet to be confirmed and the contract is not yet signed. The developer is also reportedly planning to sell other projects in Beijing and Shanghai. Read more>>
Singapore’s Latest Property Tax Targets Super Rich, Analysts Say
Singapore has imposed extra property taxes in a move seen by analysts as targeting the super wealthy who are purchasing homes under opaque structures to avoid such levies.
Authorities will impose a 35 percent additional buyer’s stamp duty on homes transferred into a trust where there’s no identifiable beneficial owner, the Finance Ministry said late Sunday. Read more>>
Suzhou Eases Housing Rules to Spur Sales
Suzhou in East China’s Jiangsu province will relax its homebuying requirements by shortening the time gap between buying and resale, the city government announced Monday.
Suzhou’s easing is in line with a larger trend of local governments relaxing real estate purchasing policies. Real estate companies’ share prices spiked on mainland Chinese exchanges on Monday. Read more>>
Sunac Deadline Looms, Country Garden Bonds Plunge
China’s fourth-largest developer by sales is approaching a possible default as the sector’s liquidity crisis shows no sign of easing despite government vows of support. Meanwhile, Country Garden Holdings’ dollar bonds were poised for their biggest drops in two months.
Sunac China Holdings’ grace period to make a dollar-bond interest payment ends Wednesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Failure to do so could trigger cross-default on other offshore debt, the bond’s prospectus shows. Read more>>
India Housing Demand Pegged to Stay Firm Despite Rising Prices
The momentum in housing demand across India’s top six cities is expected to continue this fiscal year and grow by 5 to 10 percent despite rising property prices, interest rates and a high-base effect, according to CRISIL Research.
The leverage and credit profiles of real estate developers, which had strengthened on the back of recovery in fiscal 2022, should sustain over the medium term. Read more>>
Hong Kong’s Commercial Property Could Re-Rate Downwards
Hong Kong’s GDP fell 4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022, advance estimates released by the government showed. Retail sales in the territory suffered double-digit declines from a year ago in each of February and March.
Earlier this year, the territory was hit hard by the Omicron-driven wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the health system being stretched to its limits and a spike in the number of deaths. Read more>>
China’s LGFV Bonds Preferred Over Developer Debt
China’s local government financing vehicles will remain one of the largest groups of offshore bond issuers this year, as they increased their fundraising amid the market’s general loss of appetite for real estate developers.
LGFVs are likely to remain the top sellers of offshore debt after their $28 billion issuance propelled them to the top last year, according to Moody’s Investors Service. LGFVs made up a quarter of China’s 2021 corporate debt fundraising, Moody’s said. Read more>>
Travel Rebound, SGD Strength to Keep S-REITs Resilient
Singapore-listed REITs have held up admirably despite market volatility in the face of rising interest rates, lingering COVID-19 concerns and a protracted Russia-Ukraine conflict with no resolution in sight. They look likely to remain a “safe haven” on the back of Singapore’s reopening story.
The FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts Index in April dipped 0.8 percent from the previous month, compared with a 1.5 percent decline in the benchmark Straits Times Index. Read more>>
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