China’s Smart Buildings are Watching You and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Big Brother leads the way in Mingtiandi’s roundup of real estate headlines today with news that proptech-enabled buildings in China may be using their data-capturing sensors and facial-recognition scanners to spy on their occupiers

In other news around the region, a Hong Kong-headquartered developer has backed away from financing a £400 million London skyscraper deal falls and a Tencent-backed smart grocery store in Shanghai has failed to figure out a way to make money.

China’s Proptech-Powered Buildings Are Watching You

Fintech is changing the way people borrow, invest and pay for things. But there’s another type of technology — most noticeably in China — that’s altering the way urban dwellers interact with their living and shopping environments.

It’s property technology, or proptech — the use of new technologies like big data and machine learning to help individuals and companies buy, sell and manage real estate. According to Jones Lang LaSalle Inc, investment into proptech startups from 2013 to 2017 totalled $7.8 billion, with China accounting for about 36 percent of that. In 2018, that figure came to almost $20 billion, data from market research firm Venture Scanner show. Read more>>

CC Land Holdings Pulls Out of £400M London Skyscraper Deal

M&G Real Estate is in exclusive negotiations to fund construction of a skyscraper planned for London’s financial district after financing from Hong Kong investors, including C C Land Holdings, fell through, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The terms of the deal would value the plot for the 40 Leadenhall office project, nicknamed Gotham City, at about £400 million ($503 million), said the people, asking not to be identified because the negotiations are private. Read more>>

K Raheja Corp Pips Mirae to Snap Up Mumbai Office for INR 4B

Mumbai-based real estate developer K Raheja Corp has left behind bidders including South Korean investor Mirae to lap up Citi Centre, a prime property in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Mumbai, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The deal value is around Rs 400 crore (about $58 million), the people said. Read more>>

Tencent-Backed Smart Store Shuts Down

China’s Yonghui Superstores is closing its first Tencent-backed Super Species outlet, a two-year old offshoot brand of small grocery stores, in Shanghai today, aiming to reduce the costs that the parent’s large expansion into New Retail has caused.

Since Yonghui Yunchuang Technology, the operator of Super Species, achieved its goal of opening 100 Super Species outlets nationwide last year, it has started taking a closer look at each of these stores’ profitability, shutting down outlets that cannot reach its sales goals. Read more>>

Singapore REIT Bosses Call for Regulatory Change

Singapore may want to consider shortening the time a real estate investment trust needs to gain unitholders’ nod for related party transactions and rethink the practice of quarterly reporting for the sector.

In a report by KPMG and the REIT Association of Singapore, several heads of REITS listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) said speed is a key strategic advantage and a critical success factor as Reits here mature and compete in the global arena. Read more>>

HK Developer Slashes Price of Parking Space-Sized Flats to HK$1.73M

The developer of a micro flat project in Hong Kong has cut the price of flats that are smaller than a car parking space by 38 per cent, after managing to sell only two units during the initial launch in December.

Prices were unveiled on Thursday for 36 flats at the T-Plus project in Tuen Mun, jointly developed by ­Jiayuan International Group and Stan Group, starting at HK$1.73 million ($222,200), which makes it the cheapest property in the city since CK Asset Holdings sold 165 square foot units at Mont Vert in Tai Po for HK$1.65 million in 2014. Read more>>

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