In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, UK investor Actis prepares to make a large bet on India’s life sciences sector, Hong Kong home prices resume their decline after a brief rebound, and expats recoil from Singapore’s skyrocketing rents.
Actis Targets $700M in India Life Science Assets
Actis, a global investor in sustainable infrastructure, is planning to invest more than $700 million to build and develop assets under its platform focused on providing real estate to tenants in the life sciences and related sectors in India.
The London-based investment major is looking to grow its life sciences realty portfolio through its recent acquisition of Rx Propellant and is also looking at inorganic growth through a few more buyouts. Read more>>
Hong Kong Home Prices Slipped in May Amid Higher Borrowing Costs
Hong Kong private home prices eased in May after a short-lived bounce, the latest official data showed on Tuesday, as potential homebuyers turned wary over higher borrowing costs.
Home prices last month slipped 0.3 percent from a month earlier, according to official data, compared with a revised 1 percent rise in April, and prices fell from January to March. The Asia financial hub was ranked by survey company Demographia as the world’s most unaffordable housing market for the 12th straight year. Read more>>
Singapore’s Surging Rents Shock Expats and Encourage Scammers
When Canadian expat Michelle went to renew the lease on her three-storey house in Singapore in May, her landlord wanted to raise the rent by almost 40 percent.
Michelle tried to negotiate, but the owner wouldn’t budge on the S$10,000 ($7,200) a month asking price. She’s moving her family into a three-bedroom apartment next month. Read more>>
China Housing Market Stimulus Called Into Doubt
Chinese local governments are increasingly turning to a tool used in the last housing downturn to revive the market. Analysts say it’s unlikely to work.
Authorities in at least 20 small cities have been allowing households that agree to have their run-down properties demolished to choose so-called “housing vouchers” as compensation, according to a Bloomberg tally of local policies. The vouchers can be used to buy new homes in the private market, and some cities provide cash subsidies as additional incentives. Read more>>
Desperate Chinese City Entices Homebuyers With Job Service
A southern Chinese city is sending officials to neighbouring villages to drum up interest in its unsold homes and offering to help find jobs for those who buy an apartment, as a deepening property malaise grips China’s small cities.
Yulin, a city of 5.8 million known for its annual summer dog meat festival, will recommend a homebuyer for more than three jobs, the Economic Observer, a weekly newspaper, reported on Sunday. Read more>>
Two Major Singapore Condo Launches Slated for July
After nine years in the rental market, luxury development Cape Royale at Sentosa Cove is being launched for sale. Joint developers IOI Properties and Ho Bee Land started sale previews for the 99-year-leasehold project on Tuesday, and bookings begin on 6 July with prices starting from S$2,103 ($1,518) per square foot.
Units at Cape Royale have been rented out since it was completed in 2013, when the developers felt prices were weak following two rounds of property cooling measures that year. But the upcoming launch this week might reflect changing sentiment. Read more>>
Indiabulls Real Estate Found Guilty of Profiteering
India’s National Anti-profiteering Authority has found Indiabulls Real Estate guilty of not passing on more than INR 64.6 million ($819,604) of input tax credit benefits to homebuyers by a commensurate reduction in prices post-rollout of GST.
Based on a case filed by a homebuyer that Indiabulls Real Estate has not passed on ITC benefits at project Sierra-Vizag, in Visakhapatnam, the Directorate General of Anti Profiteering investigated and found the builder guilty of profiteering. Read more>>
APAC Warehouse Demand Set to Rise
Demand for modern warehouses is poised for substantial growth as occupiers look to strike a balance between “just in time” and “just in case” inventory models, CBRE said in a report.
As pandemic-related border controls and the rising cost of global shipping and higher energy prices continue to pressure supply chains, occupiers are responding by strengthening their supply chain resilience, the consultancy noted. Read more>>
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