Building Q1 in Navi Mumbai’s Aurum Q Parc
In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, Singapore-listed Ascendas India Trust picks up a commercial tower in India’s Navi Mumbai, Burberry joins other high-fashion brands in exiting a prestigious Hong Kong shopping strip, and Chinese banks are under pressure from regulators to lend more money to property firms for project development.
Ascendas India Trust Buys Mumbai Commercial Tower for $47M
Singapore-based Ascendas India Trust has acquired realty developer Aurum Ventures’ 16-storey fully leased commercial tower in Navi Mumbai’s Ghansoli area for INR 353 crore ($47 million).
The deal is among the largest acquisitions of a stand-alone commercial tower by a global institutional investor in the last few years. Read more>>
CDL Wins Option to Buy Upper Bukit Timah Road Site for $92.5M
Tan Chong International’s indirect wholly owned subsidiary has granted a call option to a unit of City Developments Ltd to purchase its property, plant and equipment on Singapore’s Upper Bukit Timah Road for S$126.3 million ($92.5 million), the auto dealer announced last Friday.
Located at 798 and 800 Upper Bukit Timah Road, the sale assets comprise an aggregate site area of 16,630 square metres (179,004 square feet), the buildings on the site, as well as their fixed plant and equipment including all fixtures, lifts and air-conditioning units. Read more>>
Burberry Joins Prada, La Perla in Exiting Hong Kong’s Russell Street
British luxury fashion house Burberry will shut its flagship store on Hong Kong’s Russell Street, once the world’s most expensive shopping strip, after a 10-year lease expires early next year, according to sources.
The iconic brand, known for its trademark check pattern, has maintained a presence in the Causeway Bay shopping district since 2001, occupying 5,200 square feet (483 square metres) of space across two levels at Soundwill Plaza. It initially paid HK$7.7 million ($988,000) per month, which was later increased to HK$8.6 million in 2015 amid the retail boom, sources said. Read more>>
Mainland Banks Told to Loan More Cash for Development Projects
Some Chinese banks have been told by financial regulators to issue more loans to property firms for project development, two banking sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Monday, in efforts to marginally ease liquidity strains across the industry.
Chinese authorities have yet to publicly give any signal that they will relax the “three red lines” — financial requirements introduced by the central bank last year that developers must meet to get new bank loans. Read more>>
Analysts See Chinese Govt Keeping Pressure on Developers
Chinese regulators have eased pressure on property developers by loosening credit controls and allowing more bond issuance in recent weeks in an effort to prevent the sector from collapsing. But analysts and government advisors say the measures do not represent a retreat from President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on the sector.
Real estate is estimated to account for as much as one-third of overall economic activity in the world’s second-largest economy, highlighting the wider implications of any significant shift in policy. The industry has been struggling in recent weeks to deal with a liquidity crisis that has driven some of the country’s biggest developers, such as Evergrande, to the brink of bankruptcy. Read more>>
Hong Kong’s Empire Group Pushes on with $770M TST Hotel Project
Empire Group Holdings, founded by the late Hong Kong tycoon Walter Kwok, is pushing on with its HK$6 billion ($770 million) luxury hotel project in Tsim Sha Tsui, betting that tourism in the city will rebound from one of its worst patches on record.
The Kimpton, a 42-storey five-star hotel built on the former Mariners’s Club, will offer 492 rooms with harbour views at its opening in the second half of 2023. Construction has reached the 10th floor, fully making up for delays over the past two years by the city’s social unrest and material supply bottlenecks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more>>
Hong Kong Developers Find Deep Demand for Ultra-Mansions
The current trend in Hong Kong is for developers to launch small, affordable flats targeted at first-time buyers. Then there are some who are going in the other direction, building massive houses that are a rarity in the city.
Kerry Properties, which focuses on the top end of the luxury residential market, will soon release three houses measuring over 11,000 square feet (1,022 square metres) each at Mont Verra in Beacon Hill, Kowloon Tong. Read more>>
Singapore-Invested $549M Sydney Skyscraper Wins Approval
Long-awaited plans to redevelop Sydney’s City Tattersalls Club on Pitt Street into a 50-storey hotel and apartment tower have been approved.
The A$760 million ($549 million) joint venture between Singapore’s First Sponsor Group and Melbourne-based ICD Property at 198 Pitt Street, will include the redevelopment of the 126-year-old club’s quarters with a 101-room hotel and 241-apartment tower set to rise above. Read more>>
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