Oceanwide is scrambling to pay for its SF project (Image: Foster+Partners)
The backwash of China’s outbound real estate investment wave of a few years ago leads today’s collection of Asia real estate headlines as one of the mainland’s biggest investors in California property halts work on one of the two towers at a downtown San Francisco project as it struggles to fund the west coast high-rise.
In other news around the region, a Korean pension fund has formed a partnership with a Danish counterpart to invest up to $1.5 billion in Eurozone real estate, while vacancy rates in mainland China are at their highest in ten years.
Elsewhere, a top global executive at WeWork has bailed out, even as the company prepares to open a new centre in Nanjing, and the daughter of a mainland developer tops a list of China’s richest women.
Oceanwide Halts Construction of San Francisco Tower
Chinese developer Oceanwide Holdings suspended construction on a 605 foot tower in San Francisco’s Transbay district, one of the city’s largest projects, as it grapples with rising construction costs.
The Beijing company said that work has stopped indefinitely on the shorter tower at its Oceanwide Center project. Oceanwide is studying ways to lower construction costs to resume work. The stalled tower at 512 Mission St. includes 156 condos and a Waldorf Astoria hotel. Read more>>
China’s Office Market Sees Highest Vacancy Rate in Ten Years
China’s office market is suffering from decade-high vacancy rates, according to two leading commercial property companies, as weakening demand, a slowing economy and oversupply drag on the market.
The vacancy rate across the office market in 17 major cities monitored by commercial property group CBRE stood at 21.5 percent in the third quarter of this year, a level of under-occupation last seen during the financial crisis. Read more>>
Danish–Korean Pension Tie-up To Pump DKK 10B into Eurozone Real Estate
Danish pension fund PFA is to further tilt its real estate portfolio towards international markets and has revealed that its partnership with South Korea counterpart POBA could see DKK 10 billion ($1.5 billion) invested in alternative property assets.
The DKK 576 billion institution said the foreign portion of its DKK 57 billion real estate porfolio, which currently stands at 45 percent, would expand at a faster rate than the domestic share. Read more>>
Korean Investors Buy Amazon Shed in Czech Republic
UK-based Roebuck Asset Management has acquired a logistics warehouse in Dobroviz, Prague, on behalf of a South Korean institutional investor.
The 125,000 square metre purpose-built modern facility is let to Amazon until 2030 and boasts BREEAM Excellent rating. The asset is located in the immediate vicinity of Václav Havel International Airport in Prague, offering transport links into the Czech Republic and neighbouring countries. Read more>>
WeWork Leases New Centre at SHK Nanjing Project
Struggling co-working firm WeWork has opted for a traditional long-term lease agreement with Sun Hung Kai Properties to open its first hub in Nanjing.
The world’s largest flexible office space provider said on Friday that it has leased four floors in SHKP’s Nanjing International Finance Center Tower One. Although it did not say when it plans to open the space, WeWork said it aims to have three hubs in the capital of China’s southern Jiangsu province up and running by the end of the year. Read more>>
WeWork Chief Marketing Officer Bails Out
As WeWork scrambles this week to raise cash needed to keep afloat, several top executives aren’t sticking around to see the results.
Chief Marketing Officer Robin Daniels is leaving, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. He’s at least the fifth C-level executive to step down in the last few weeks. Read more>>
Singapore Hotel Deals Hit S$2.8B in Q3
Hospitality deals in Singapore reached the highest level recorded on a quarterly basis, hitting S$2.8 billion ($2 billion) in the third quarter, according to real estate firm Colliers International’s report yesterday.
This was six times that of the previous quarter and 19 times that of the previous year, and comes on the back of significant transactions like Bay Hotel, Mandarin Orchard and Crowne Plaza Changi Airport. Read more>>
Country Garden Heiress Tops China Rich List
With a fortune of RMB 175 billion ($25 billion), Yang Huiyan, vice-chairwoman of Country Garden, has been crowned China’s richest woman for the third consecutive year, according to the Hurun Richest Women in China 2019 list released by Hurun Research Institute.
Wu Yajun, chairwoman of Longfor Properties, ranked second with a personal wealth of RMB 85 billion, followed by Zhong Huijuan, chairwoman of Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group, with 84 billion yuan. Read more>>
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