Was the whole summit part of a plan to boost northeast China real estate values?
At the top of Asia’s property news today, the diplomatic outcome of the recent US-North Korean summit in Singapore has yet to be measured, but political event is already paying big dividends for Chinese property owners near the North Korean border. Also in the headlines, a Chinese-owned real estate developer in Australia is buying up a 15 percent stake in one of its ASX-listed competitors and Hong Kong developers are suddenly selling units as the city moves closer to a tax on vacant, unsold homes. All the details from around the region await you below.
Dandong Property Prices Jump on North Korea Prospects
As the Korean Peninsula heads toward a more peaceful environment, the real estate market is already booming in Dandong, a northeastern Chinese city on the border with North Korea.
At the end of May, a signboard appeared in Dandong advertising “Rooms with a superb view of the river.” The sign’s owner is a man in his 40s who runs a real estate business. “You are slow to come,” he said with a smile. “Prices have already risen as much as 40% on average.” Read more>>
Chinese Developer Aqualand Takes 15% Stake in Listed Competitor
Property development and investment group Aqualand Group has made a $10.7 million strategic investment in ASX-listed real estate agent McGrath. Aqualand, established in Australia in 2014 and has since generated a portfolio of 18 sites with a collective gross development value of $5 billion, will become the second largest shareholder of McGrath with a 15% stake.
At the close, McGrath shares were up 26.4% to $0.43, but still well below the 12 month high of $0.81. Aqualand is buying in at $0.425 a share. Read more>>
HK Developers Rush to Sell Flats as Vacancy Tax Looms
Hong Kong’s property developers are rushing to offload empty new flats before the government unveils details of a vacancy tax this month aimed at preventing hoarding, as it seeks to ease the city’s housing crisis.
New World Development will release the last 38 homes – left unoccupied for the past five years – in phase one of its Park Villa project in Yuen Long at discounted prices on Saturday. Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) hopes to clear its stock of 350 empty apartments at Grand Yoho phase two, near Yuen Long Station, in the second half of this year. Grand Yoho was completed in mid-2017. Read more>>
36% of India Grade A Office Space Occupied by Tech Firms
In India, the corporate real estate space is being driven primarily by the growth of corporates, especially their business expansion into tier-2 cities, said former Nasscom President R Chandrashekhar.
Addressing CoreNet Global’s 5th annual India Conference, Chandrashekhar said, “In fact, 36 per cent of office real estate in India is garnered by tech firms, with finance coming a close second. With the service sector employing almost half the workforce in the country, the nature of real estate hiring is constantly changing.” Read more>>
China Ramps Up National Real Estate Registry System
China is accelerating the process of building a unified national real estate database as part of property market management, even as experts said such an action was unlikely to bring down the housing prices as many may expect.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, the database work is being handled by 3,001 property registration stations in 335 cities, who are on average handling 300,000 enterprises and individuals every day. Read more>>
Wharf’s Suzhou IFS in Suzhou Certified as China’s 8th Tallest Building
Suzhou IFS, a 450-metre-tall skyscraper developed by Hong Kong’s Wharf Holdings has been certified as China’s eighth tallest building, by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), in preparation for its opening in 2020.
The Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed tower will provide a total of 380,000 square metres of space by GFA, including a luxury hotel, office space and a residential element. In a press release, the management of Suzhou IFS shared with media representatives that the supertall structure will be covered with 32,000 special glass tiles each weighing some 300 to 1000 kilograms. Read more>>
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