Ikea Branches Out Into Housing With New China Centre and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, retail giant Ikea has gone from selling furniture for your new apartment to selling you a home too as the Swedish firm launches residential sales at a mixed-use project in the capital of Hunan province.

Also in the news South Korea’s Shinsegae Group plans double down on its department stores business after some encouraging results, and Hong Kongers moving abroad boost property markets across the English-speaking world.

Ikea Branches Out Into Housing With New Centre in China

Ikea’s shopping mall business, one of the world’s biggest, has kicked off the sales process for some 500 flats at its first-ever mixed-use retail and residential development in Changsha in southern China.

Cindy Andersen, managing director at Ingka Centres since February, said she expected flat buyers to start moving in next March, after the adjacent mall opened last month following pandemic-related delays. Read more>>

South Korea’s Shinsegae to Invest $866M in Department Stores

South Korean retail giant Shinsegae Group will invest KRW 1 trillion ($866 million) in local department stores this year to reinforce the business that has helped cope with the COVID-19 crisis.

The pandemic crippled offline stores’ profits last year, but some of them, especially department stores, enjoyed a recovery in their earnings in part due to “revenge shopping”, a post-lockdown rush to purchase luxury goods. Shinsegae also benefited from the trend. Read more>>

Brookfield India REIT Says Leasing Income Rose 7.3%

Brookfield India Real Estate Trust has reported a 7.3 percent year-on-year rise in second-quarter income from operating lease rentals at INR 160 crore ($21.5 million), led by contractual escalations. Net operating income, adjusted for income from identified assets, rose nearly 4 percent to INR 170 crore, driven by an increase in operating lease rentals.

The REIT generated net distributable cash flow of INR 190 crore (INR 6.42 per unit) for the second quarter and plans to distribute INR 180 crore as dividend and interest for unitholders at INR 6 per unit. Read more>>

Fleeing Hong Kongers Boost Property Markets From UK to Canada

Hong Kongers moving abroad have bought at least $100 million worth of property since 2019, a year marked by unprecedented social unrest, according to a Hong Kong-based law firm.

The Harvey Law Group said Hong Kongers’ preferred destinations are the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Their interest in finding a residency overseas or a scheme that paves the way to citizenship through investment has increased fourfold in the last two years. Read more>>

JTC Awards SG Industrial Site to Sing Teck Leong for S$3.47M

JTC has awarded the tender for the industrial site at Gul Avenue (Plot D) to Sing Teck Leong Marketing & Resources Pte Ltd at a tendered sum of S$3.47 million ($2.55 million).

Launched on 27 April, the tender closed on 22 June with two bids received, JTC said Wednesday. Read more>>

BofA Downgrades ESR to ‘Neutral’ After ARA Deal

Bank of America Securities has downgraded ESR to “neutral” from “buy” with a target price of HK$26.50 ($4.63), down from HK$31 previously, after its announced bid for ARA Asset Management on 4 August.

The downgrade is based on a lower EBITDA multiple of 21 times (from 23 times) for its funds under management platform (ex-ARA) and expected dilution valuation on a higher share base, while the target price downgrade implies a FY2022 EV/EBITDA of 18 times, said BofA analysts Donald Chua and Chan Xian Ning. Read more>>

Hysan Development’s Underlying Profit Drops 12.6%

Hysan Development reported a 12.6 percent year-on-year decrease in half-year underlying profit to HK$1.177 billion (now $150 million).

The largest landlord in Causeway Bay saw a HK$517 million net profit in the first half of 2021, as compared with a net loss of HK$2.626 billion a year earlier. Read more>>

Wharf Bets on Hong Kong as Mainland Market Slows

Wharf said it remains bearish on the mainland property market and will focus on Hong Kong after posting a first-half net profit of HK$1.04 billion (now $130 million), compared with a net loss of HK$1.74 billion a year earlier.

Excluding investment property revaluation surplus and other unrealised items, underlying net loss narrowed by 53.53 percent to HK$526 million from a year ago, according to an exchange filing. 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.