Kwok Ying-shing’s Kaisa Group is back in the headlines again
Infamous for its 2015 debt defaults, developer Kaisa Group is back in the news this week with a new take on trouble, as the Hong Kong-listed firm now says that one of its Xi’an projects has been illicitly taken over by local players. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, a different sort of violent upheaval is taking place after the city’s property sales dropped 58 percent last month, and one of the city’s top developers cut the commission it pays to brokers by more than 30 percent. These stories and more await you in our roundup of headlines from around the region.
Kaisa Says $150M Xi’An Project Seized by Local Developers
Kaisa Group Holdings faces losing its entire investment of almost $150 million in a key urban redevelopment project, underscoring the vagaries in China’s property market.
The Shenzhen-based home builder, which gained notoriety in 2015 when it became the first developer from the nation to default on US dollar debt, has invested more than RMB 1 billion ($146 million) in a project in Xi’an to transform a shanty town into residential dwellings. Read more>>
Hong Kong Property Sales Drop 58% in December
Hong Kong recorded its second-best year for property sales in 2018 on the back of a red hot first half, in which transactions worth HK$403.7 billion ($51.5 billion) were reported. However, the market has cooled since August, when a 28-month bull run came to an end, with December recording a 58 percent year-on-year drop in all property sales.
A total of 79,185 deals worth HK$729.56 billion were completed in the city in 2018. The record for the special administrative region’s property market stands at HK$868 billion, reported in 1997. Read more>>
Sino Land Cuts Agency Commission in Face of Downturn
The ties between Hong Kong’s property developers and sales agents are fraying, as declining prices in a cooling market crimp profit margins, causing the two former partners to turn against each other.
On December 29th, Sino Land said it would pay just 1.7 percent in commission fees for its Grand Central project in Kwun Tong, only after brokers had helped the developer to sell 1,345 flats and rake in HK$16.8 billion ($2.1 billion), according to Centaline Property Agency, one of the city’s largest with around 5,000 agents. Read more>>
Horizon Towers Makes Second Try at S$1.1B Singapore Collective Sale
Horizon Towers, among the contenders for Singapore’s largest collective sale in 2018, has relaunched for sale by tender for a second time with a S$1.1 billion ($805 million) reserve price.
The 211-unit, 99-year leasehold condominium in the prestigious Leonie Hill area, first launched for sale at S$1.1 billion just before the July 6th cooling measures were announced, and had closed without a sale on September 12th. Read more>>
Central SG’s Cavenagh Gardens Tries Again for S$480M En Bloc Sale
Cavenagh Gardens is the latest development in Singapore hoping for another chance at an en bloc sale in 2019, and owners are not budging from their first attempt’s reserve price of S$480 million ($351 million).
That translates to a land rate of S$1,695 per square foot per plot ratio inclusive of an estimated state land premium of S$18.4 million to purchase some 11,800 square feet of state land, or S$1,541 per square foot per plot ratio after factoring in the 10 percent bonus gross floor area. Read more>>
HNA Group Sues Hong Kong Airlines Over Debts
Debt-laden mainland aviation conglomerate HNA Group has sued a firm owned by a former director of its subsidiary, Hong Kong Airlines, for about HK$854 million in unpaid debt, just two weeks after news surfaced of an exodus of top executives from the city’s third-largest carrier.
HNA Group (Hong Kong) Investment is seeking the repayment of the debt issued in the form of a promissory note on December 30, 2010 to Hong Kong Airlines Consultation Service, according to a legal document made available Monday at the High Court. Read more>>
Tune in again on Friday for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.
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