The Hong Kong government’s latest campaign is failing to attract shoppers
A retail slump in Hong Kong, recovering home sales in China and an ongoing hunger for data centres lead today’s collection of real estate news from around Asia.
Months of protests in Hong Kong are adding to misery initially driven by a slowdown on the mainland, with as much as 30 percent of retailers in the Asian financial capital now asking staff to take unpaid leave, according to a report this week. While Hong Kong’s leadership continues to sacrifice social welfare and business growth in favour of absolute political control, home sales in mainland China show their first signs of life in several months.
As housing and retail markets continue to struggle, demand for places to park banks of servers continues to show promise with a regional developer betting A$51 million on a new facility in Australia. We have still more news from Hong Kong and Bangkok as well as a Singapore housing surprise a bit further down the page.
Hong Kong Retailers Furlough Staff, Close Down as Protests Hit Sales
Several dozen small retailers are likely to shut shop as soon as the end of this month due to plunging sales that could lead to thousands of lay-offs as protests frighten away tourists, according to a Hong Kong-based staffing agency.
About 20 per cent to 30 per cent of retailers were now starting to send full-time employees on unpaid leave to cut costs after having let go of part-time workers. Read more>>
China Real Estate Investment Reaches Four Month High
China’s property investment grew at its fastest pace in four months in August, a boon for the economy as other sectors weaken from the Sino-U.S. trade war and consumer demand slows.
Sales growth accelerated to the highest in more than a year but a surge in demand could be concerning for policymakers who want to reduce high household debt and manage potential bubble risk.
Property investment is a significant contributor to growth in the world’s second-largest economy. A robust real estate industry has helped China counter a broader slowdown in its economy from a protracted trade war with the United States. Read more>>
Wing Tai Buys Aussie Data Centre for A$51M
Developer Wing Tai Holdings said on Monday that a trustee of its wholly owned subsidiary WT DC Trust II has agreed to buy a freehold data centre in Australia for A$51 million (S$48.2 million).
Evergreen Nominees (Victoria) is the seller of the data centre, which is located within Tally Ho Business Park in Victoria. The property sits on 4 Wesley Court, Burwood East and is wholly leased to a major IT services company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, said Wing Tai. Read more>>
HK Govt’s Sudden Concern for Public Welfare Could Threaten Developer Land Banks
Hong Kong, the world’s least affordable housing market, must find ways to provide cheaper housing amid anti-government protests that have now lasted over three months.
Use of the Lands Resumption Ordinance, which allows the city’s government to take back private land for an established public purpose, has been touted in some quarters. As it happens, some of Hong Kong’s biggest private developers hold about 100 million sq ft in farmland, one of the easiest sources of new land in the city. Read more>>
Singapore Private Home Sales Outperform in August
Developers moved 1,122 new private homes in the traditionally quiet month of August, down by just 4.8 per cent from the 1,179 units sold in July, as demand remained resilient despite the weaker macro-economic environment.
Last month’s sales numbers were boosted by new launch Parc Clematis and sales at projects that were launched earlier. More than 70 per cent of units sold last month were from previous launches, as most developers avoided launching new projects during the Hungry Ghost month. Parc Clematis was launched two days after the festival ended. Read more>>
Ebbing Chinese Investment Deflates Bangkok Condo Bubble
Thai residential property developers are being forced to rethink their project strategies as waning Chinese investment hurts market sentiment, with the sector having shrunk by 13% year-on-year in the first half of 2019.
According to Resinee Sarikaputra, director of research at London-headquartered real estate company Knight Frank, the sales rate for newly launched condos in the quarter ended June dropped to an all-time low of 15.7%. As of the end of June, the number of unsold condo units in Bangkok rose to 92,815 from 89,765 at the end of 2018. Read more>>
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