BlackRock Leases Mumbai Office From K Raheja and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

The world’s biggest asset manager leads today’s headline roundup, with US-based BlackRock leasing new office space in India’s commercial capital. Also making the list, Singapore boosts second-hand home sales and a Chinese developer seeks US recognition of its debt workout.

BlackRock Takes Up New Office Space in K Raheja Mumbai Project

BlackRock has leased 42,700 square feet (3,967 square metres) of office space in Mumbai’s posh Worli neighbourhood for a monthly rent of INR 300 ($3.60) per square foot, documents accessed by data analytical firm Propstack showed.

The five-year lease from 1 August will have a monthly rent of INR 11 million for the first eight months and INR 12.8 million for the next four months. The rent will have an escalation of 10 percent in April 2026, five percent in 2027 and five percent in 2028. Read more>>

Singapore Second-Hand Home Sales Surged 32% in July

Singapore’s condo resale volume surged in July — an increase analysts attributed to a lower base from the month before due to the school holiday season.

Based on flash estimates from SRX and 99.co released Monday, 1,075 units were resold, representing a 32.2 percent increase from the 813 units transacted in June. Volume was 21.7 percent higher year-on-year and 9 percent higher than the five-year average volume for the month of July. Read more>>

Chinese Developer Yuzhou Files for Bankruptcy in US

Yuzhou Group Holdings filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy Thursday in New York, a move by the defaulted developer to seek US court recognition for its offshore debt restructuring and ward off litigation.

The Chinese builder, which failed to pay $2.9 billion in dollar notes with interest as of the end of 2023, is undergoing restructuring in Hong Kong and Cayman Islands. Read more>>

AI Demand Seen Giving Data Centre Operators an Edge Over Hyperscale Clients

Tech giants have been a mixed blessing for data centre owners. They are ravenous for space but powerful enough to drive a hard bargain on price. This dynamic held back rent growth for stocks such as Equinix for a long time, but things are changing.

Data centre landlords used to have to offer enticing deals to tech tenants who were leasing space in bulk and could cherry-pick locations because of ample supply. As more companies moved their data from on-site storage to the public cloud, big cloud providers gained even more leverage. Amazon pays about half the rent per kilowatt that a small corporate or government tenant does. Read more>>

Starhill Global REIT Lands $38M Loan From UOB

Starhill Global REIT’s manager on Friday announced that the Singapore-listed trust has obtained a S$50 million ($38.4 million) loan from UOB.

The REIT’s trustee entered into an agreement with the bank for a five-year unsecured sustainability-linked revolving credit facility. It will be available for drawing from 31 December. Read more>>

Adani Struggles to Relocate Residents From Mumbai Project Site

A joint venture led by billionaire Gautam Adani is struggling to secure land to relocate poor residents of one of Asia’s largest slums in Mumbai, a government official said, posing a fresh challenge for the ambitious reconstruction plan.

The Dharavi slum, about three-quarters the size of New York’s Central Park, is featured in director Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning 2008 movie, Slumdog Millionaire. Its open sewers and shared toilets, close to Mumbai’s international airport, stand in contrast to India’s development boom. Read more>>

Oxley Issues Profit Warning in Singapore

SGX-listed developer Oxley Holdings said Friday that it expects to post a net loss for both the second half and full year.

In a bourse filing, the company attributed the outcome to impairment losses, finance costs and lower revenue recognised from the group’s development projects. The company will release its unaudited financial results on or before 29 August. Read more>>

Australia’s Elanor to Sell Luxury Hotels in Battle to Stay Afloat

The financial woes of real estate fund manager Elanor Investment Group could mean some of the country’s best-known luxury properties, including Cradle Mountain Lodge, are put on the block, and they are a pointer to the still-tough environment for commercial real estate.

The group, which was suspended from trade on the Australian Securities Exchange on Friday as it sought time to refinance debt and consider its corporate future, has found itself in trouble as investment values have fallen, particularly for more risky properties. Read more>>

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