Hong Kong’s Mount Nicholson has attracted mainland money
Hong Kong’s recovering luxury sector leads today’s real estate headlines from around Asia Pacific as a pair of mainland tycoons trade a house on the city’s Peak. IKEA also makes the news with a set of mainland closures, including a Shanghai location, and Sino Land has teamed up with Great Eagle to win a Kowloon site tender.
House in Hong Kong’s Mount Nicholson Sells for $133M
A mansion in Hong Kong’s prestigious Peak area was sold for HK$1.04 billion ($133 million), yielding a more than 25 percent gain for the owner who held it for about a decade.
House 6 at Mount Nicholson, a project known for setting a record as Asia’s most expensive apartment per square foot, was sold to a company named Golden Visions Holdings Ltd last month, according to a land registry filing. The seller, Chow Kwok Fai, purchased the home in 2016 for HK$830 million, the filing shows. Read more>>
IKEA to Close Seven Mainland China Shops Amid Retail Downturn
IKEA will shutter seven of its signature blue-box furniture stores across China and pivot to smaller outlets, as the Swedish retailer grapples with the country’s prolonged property slump and rising competition from local rivals.
Operations will end at stores in cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin from 2 February, the company said in a statement. Over the next two years, it plans to open around a dozen small-format stores in Beijing and Shenzhen. Read more>>
Sino Land, Great Eagle Win Kowloon Residential Site for $206M
A joint venture of Sino Land and Great Eagle Holdings has won a government residential site tender in Kowloon for HK$1.61 billion ($206 million), outbidding major Hong Kong developers as the city’s housing market shows signs of stabilising.
The purchase of the 41,226 square foot (3,830 square metre) site, which could yield 570 units, underscores Sino Land’s confidence in the long-term development prospects of Hong Kong, the company said. Sino Land owns 85 percent of the joint venture and Great Eagle owns 15 percent. Read more>>
Vanke Offshore Bondholders Expected to Recover 10% of Investments
Offshore bondholders of distressed developer China Vanke could face near-total losses in a worst-case scenario, according to Barclays, underscoring the deepening risks in the country’s property sector.
In a base-case scenario, bondholders may recover just 10.1 percent of what they were owed, roughly half what already deeply distressed market prices suggest, the British bank said in a report. Read more>>
Vanke Wins Extension on Bank Loans
China Vanke has struck a deal with domestic banks to defer loan interest payments to September, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as the state-backed developer scrambles to avoid a default in the crisis-hit property sector.
The lenders, including Bank of China, have agreed to allow cash-strapped Vanke to make annual interest payments instead of quarterly and to defer all such dues in the coming months to September, the sources said. Read more>>
Hong Kong’s Wheelock to Launch Five New Projects This Year
Wheelock Properties said it will launch five new projects in Hong Kong this year, offering over 1,000 units. Phase 6 of the Southside development in Wong Chuk Hang is expected to be unveiled in the first quarter, including 617 units, said Ricky Wong, managing director of Wheelock Properties.
Co-developed by Wheelock Properties and MTR Corporation, the project features one- to four-bedroom flats. It will be developed in two phases, and the naming ceremony is to be held soon. Read more>>
Sydney Developers Take on Melbourne Post Office Project
Sydney’s Drivas Property Group and the Dodaro family have teamed up to buy Melbourne’s GPO building for A$88 million ($58.9 million), in a purchase showing that top retail assets are back in city markets as more optimism takes hold in the sector.
Retail landlords are taking a more bullish stance as inflation has eased, making rate hikes less likely this year. This shift has supported both listed property stocks and spending by consumers, as they are less likely to be hit by mortgage pressures. Read more>>
Frasers Reopens Former InterContinental Singapore Under Own Brand
The InterContinental Singapore hotel in Bugis has rebranded as Frasers House and joined Marriott International’s The Luxury Collection portfolio.
The hotel’s debut, announced Wednesday, follows an agreement between Frasers Hospitality and Marriott International made public in October. Frasers House is the first property within The Luxury Collection’s portfolio in Singapore’s city centre. Read more>>
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