The 0.2 percent drop in new home prices in July followed June’s flat reading (Getty Images)
In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, China home prices slip despite government stimulus measures, and Singapore-listed Dasin Retail Trust draws a default notice. Also making the cut are a change in spousal status for China Evergrande’s boss and a surprise rate cut by the PBOC.
China New Home Prices Post Rare Decline
China’s new home prices fell for the first time this year in July, official data showed on Wednesday, as piecemeal policy support failed to shore up the embattled property sector, heaping pressure on authorities to introduce bolder stimulus.
The 0.2 percent month-to-month fall came after June’s flat reading, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics data. Prices were down 0.1 percent from a year earlier, after a flat result in June. Read more>>
Dasin Retail Trust Receives Default Notice for Loan Facility of Up to S$430M
Singapore-listed Dasin Retail Trust has received a notice of default occurring under an offshore syndicated term loan facility of up to S$430 million ($316.8 million).
The offshore facility, denominated in Singapore and US dollars, was announced in 2021 and 2022. Together with a RMB 400 million ($54.8 million) onshore facility, it was used to finance the acquisitions of the trust’s initial portfolio comprising Xiaolan Metro Mall, Ocean Metro Mall, Dasin E-Colour and Shiqi Metro Mall. Read more>>
Evergrande Boss Divorce Rumours Fly as Company Changes Designation for Wife
China Evergrande Group didn’t list Ding Yumei as the spouse of chairman Xu Jiayin in its latest filing, marking a change in the way the defaulted property giant refers to its second-largest shareholder.
Ding is now known as a “third party independent”, according to a late Monday filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange. The bourse defines spouses as an associate of key directors, chief executives or substantial shareholders of a listed company, subjecting them to certain rules on connected transactions. Read more>>
China Cuts Rates, Halts Youth Jobless Stats as Economy Signals Sharper Downturn
Chinese officials said they would stop reporting the country’s youth unemployment rate after months of spiralling increases, depriving investors, economists and businesses of another key data point on the declining health of the world’s second-largest economy.
The surprise move extends China’s efforts to restrict access to a variety of data on its economy and corporate landscape to outside scrutiny. Read more>>
Banks Slash China GDP Forecasts Again After Data Disappointment
For the second straight month, a slew of disappointing economic data from China spurred investment banks around the world to cut their 2023 growth outlook.
The wave of downgrades highlights the danger of the world’s second-biggest economy missing its official target of around 5 percent expansion for this year, without more concerted policy actions. The latest reductions by private sector economists followed an announcement of interest rate cuts by the central bank. Read more>>
Cryptocurrency Firm Founder May Be Occupant of $128M Hong Kong Mansion
Li Lin, founder of cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global, is believed to have rented an ultra-luxury mansion in Hong Kong, as the financial centre woos Chinese players in the industry to boost its status as a virtual asset hub.
The 11,692 square foot (1,086 square metre) house, which is part of Kerry Properties’ Mont Verra project in the upscale neighbourhood of Beacon Hill in Kowloon Tong district, was leased earlier this month to a person named Li Lin, according to records on the government’s Land Register. Read more>>
BlackRock, Allianz Among Holders of Country Garden Bonds
Global investors including BlackRock and Allianz may be key stakeholders to watch in Country Garden’s debt crisis given their recent exposure to the embattled Chinese developer’s dollar bonds.
BlackRock held $358.5 million of Country Garden dollar bonds, according to a filing dated 14 August. Allianz’s position was $301 million based on a 30 June filing. That was also when filings from others including Fidelity International and HSBC showed they were holders. Read more>>
Aussies Brace as ‘Worse Than Evergrande’ Crisis Looms
As one of China’s largest developers teeters on the brink of default, Australia’s property industry is bracing amid fears of another looming cash crunch crisis in the world’s biggest real estate market.
Analysts predict the impact from a potential default by developer Country Garden to be “worse than Evergrande’s collapse”, as it has four times as many projects. Read more>>
Tune in again soon for more real estate news and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.
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