Blackstone, ADIA Buying into India Housing Lender and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

A joint bet on India residential finance by the world’s largest real estate fund manager together with one of the biggest sovereign wealth funds leads today’s collection of real estate headlines from around the region, with troubled mainland developers also holding their spots in our countdown of the crisis.

Among China’s home builders, a group of investors in Kaisa Group’s offshore bonds is attempting a new bailout offer after the Shenzhen player defaulted earlier this month and Shimao Group’s recent financial shenanigans have attracted the attention of the Shanghai stock exchange.

Blackstone, ADIA Said to Buy Stake in Indiabulls Housing

Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd.’s founder is selling about half his stake in the shadow lender to investors led by Blackstone Group Inc. and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, according to people familiar with the matter, as the sector comes out of a three-year meltdown.

Sameer Gehlaut, who founded Indiabulls Housing 16 years ago, will sell roughly 11% to the firms in an initial tranche, the people said. Read more>>

Kaisa Offshore Bondholders Offer to Buy $1B of Its Onshore Loans 

Offshore bondholders of embattled Chinese developer Kaisa Group Holdings have offered to buy up to US$1 billion worth of its onshore non-performing loans in a bailout effort.

New Money Consortium, a group of eight institutions holding more than US$2.5 billion worth of Kaisa’s US dollar bonds, has offered the new solution to the cash-strapped developer while waiting for it to disclose more details of its financial position, sources close to the matter told the Post. Read more>>

China Audits Evergrande, Chairman’s Assets

Chinese authorities are scrutinising the assets of China Evergrande Group and its wealthy chairman Hui Ka Yan but expect no fire sale for now at the world’s most indebted property developer, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The audit, previously unreported, highlights how Beijing is taking charge at Evergrande after the real estate giant missed payments on two overseas bonds, triggering a restructuring to address Evergrande’s more than $300 billion in liabilities. Read more>>

Shanghai Exchange Asks Shimao to Explain $259M Related Party Deal

Chinese developer Shimao Group Holdings has found itself in a spot of bother after the Shanghai Stock Exchange raised questions over an asset sale, while investors continue to sell down the stock.

The bourse sent a letter to Shanghai Shimao, a mainland-listed subsidiary of Shimao Group on Tuesday evening, asking it to shed light on the sale of a RMB 1.65 billion ($259 million) property management business to an affiliated party. Read more>>

EHT New Jersey Hotel Sold at a Loss for $23.5M

The sale of Eagle Hospitality Trust’s New Jersey hotel Delta Woodbridge was completed on Dec 8 for $23.5 million, DBS Trustee announced on Thursday as the assets of the troubled Singapore-listed trust continue to be liquidated.

Net proceeds from the disposal were used to offset the outstanding principal balance of a $37.6 million mortgage loan on the property, but were understood to be insufficient to cover the entire balance. Read more>>

Phillips Auction House to Set Up Asia HQ in West Kowloon

The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) has announced it is renting out the main floors of its administrative block flanking the M+ museum to Russian-owned auction house Phillips to use as its Asia headquarters.

The deal, announced on December 16, was momentous, the public body’s chief executive officer, Betty Fung Ching Suk-yee, said, and marked the beginning of the authority’s “long-term collaboration with Phillips in contributing to local, regional and international arts and cultural development”. But a cultural critic fears it is another example of private tastes being turned into a public good. Read more>>

CK Asset Sells Flat in Hong Kong’s Mid-Levels for $22.7M

Luxury homes continue to sell in Hong Kong, despite the economic uncertainty.

A 2,193-square-foot four-bedroom unit with two ensuites and two parking lots was sold via tender at 21 Borrett Road in Mid-Levels yesterday, with developer CK Asset (1113) collecting HK$176.8 million ($22.7 million). Read more>>

Morgan Stanley Predicts Hong Kong Home Prices to Fall in 2022

The prices of Hong Kong’s lived-in homes may decline in 2022, reversing 13 years of gains, as a plunge in the stock market has created a “negative wealth effect” on investors and speculators, Morgan Stanley said.

Overall prices may fall by 2 percent next year, the US bank’s equity analyst Praveen Choudhary wrote in a December 15 report, going against the market’s consensus for prices to gain by between 3 percent and up to 10 percent. Read more>>

China Home Sales Fell for Fifth Straight Month in November

New home sales in China slumped 16.31 percent by value during November, to mark their fifth month of declines, pointing to gloomy demand despite measures taken by some cities to boost transactions, according to a report by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics this week.

For the supply side, new construction starts as measured by floor area tumbled 21.03 percent on year in November, down for the eighth month, while property investment by developers fell 4.3 percent. New home prices have dropped in 64 of 70 cities so far this year, according to Reuters calculations. Read more>>

Tune in again soon for more real estate news and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.