Adani Loses $9.4B in Value on Short-Sale Report and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, the Indian conglomerate led by Asia’s richest man reels from a report denouncing the business as a con, and the property manager owned by Britain’s King Charles III takes legal action against Twitter over unpaid rent.

Adani Shares Take $9.4B Hit After Hindenburg Bets Against Group

Shares in listed companies tied to India’s sprawling Adani Group shed $9.4 billion in value after short-seller Hindenburg Research released a report targeting the conglomerate controlled by billionaire business magnate Gautam Adani.

Shares in seven listed Adani Group companies were down 4.6 percent on average in Wednesday afternoon trading in Mumbai, with those in flagship business Adani Enterprises falling as much as 3.7 percent. Those falls brought the combined loss in market capitalisation for Adani Group stocks to about INR 762 billion ($9.4 billion). Read more>>

King Charles’s Crown Estate Is Suing Twitter Over Unpaid Rent

Twitter is being taken to court in the UK by the Crown Estate, which manages the property portfolio owned by King Charles III, over an alleged failure to pay rent on its London office.

Business Insider understands that the Crown Estate has issued court proceedings to Twitter following previous contact with the social media company over unpaid rent, and that two parties are currently in discussions. Read more>>

News Corp in Talks to Sell Real Estate Site to CoStar for $3B

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is in talks to sell its Move online real estate business to CoStar Group.

Move is the parent of Realtor.com and other property-related websites. The deal is worth about $3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. The sale could be announced within days, one of the people said. Read more>>

Almost Half of Pune’s Grade A Office Stock Held by Institutional Investors

Pune’s real estate sector saw an inflow of $194 million in private equity investments in 2022, according to the latest report by Savills India.

Since 2017, PE investors have pumped $1.8 billion into Pune’s realty market, thanks to opportunities in office space. Due to continuous investments, institutional investors now have a strong foothold in the city’s office market. Read more>>

Singapore Shophouse Sales Sank 35.6% in 2022’s Second Half

Shophouse sales in Singapore dwindled to some S$625.6 million ($475 million) in the second half of 2022, down 35.6 percent from the preceding six months as investors turned wary amid interest rate hikes.

The reading was also a 38.7 percent year-on-year decrease and a stark contrast from the “record-breaking performance” posted every six months between H1 2021 and H1 2022, Knight Frank said Wednesday in a market update. Read more>>

Hong Kong Developers Seize Mainland Opportunities Amid Downturn

Several Hong Kong developers have been snapping up mainland property assets over the past year as their debt-laden counterparts struggle through tough times amid a real estate downturn.

Swire Properties, New World Development, Kerry Properties and Hongkong Land increased investment plans in mainland projects by over HK$30 billion ($3.83 billion) in 2022, in an about-turn from a mass withdrawal from the mainland market seven years ago when prices took off. Read more>>

Three Ds to Drive Real Estate Investment in Asia Pacific

Economic growth in Asia Pacific is expected to remain resilient in 2023 relative to Europe and the US, and the region as a whole provides a better backdrop for real estate investment. The wild card is China. But even with the expectation that China would take a while to fully open up, the reversal of its zero-COVID policy would undoubtedly boost economies in the region.

Therefore, there continues to be potential for strong demand and growth of real estate in Asia Pacific — yet there are ongoing pressures on cap rates given the interest rate hikes, most notably in Australia and South Korea where rates have moved the most. Read more>>

Vietnam Property Market Faces Headwinds, but Market Watchers See Positives

The real estate market in Vietnam is facing headwinds amid a crackdown on irregularities in the corporate bond market. But experts see a low likelihood of a major real estate downturn, and do not expect systemic risks to arise.

They also believe that there would be longer-term positives in the market. Read more>>

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