Minister Wang Menghui has MOHURD reading out some new rules to cool the industry
The authorities in Beijing have come up with yet another move to cool down the real estate ardor of their 1.4 million constituents, as the housing said it will limit loans for resettlement payments. Also in the news, China’s CIC hopes to start spending some of its $941 billion in assets closer to home, while their counterparts in Singapore warn of slowing investment returns. Keep reading for the details on these stories and more.
China Cuts Resettlement Subsidies in Latest Damper on Real Estate Sector
China’s housing ministry said on Thursday it will restrict subsidies to cities with hot property markets for new projects to tear down and redevelop shantytowns, as Beijing battles real estate bubbles and extends a multi-year crackdown on debt.
Banks that make loans to support national policy, including the China Development Bank (CDB), will not offer any this year to compensate home-dwellers for new shantytown rebuilding projects in cities where inventories are low and home prices high, the ministry said in a statement to Reuters. Read more>>
China’s CIC Hopes to Invest at Home
China’s US$941 billion (S$1.3 trillion) sovereign wealth fund wants permission to invest in domestic stocks and bonds for the first time, people with knowledge of the matter said, as it tries to end restrictions on its mandate following government moves to open up financial markets.
China Investment Corp (CIC) has laid the groundwork for an application to the central government to let it invest in domestic capital markets, the people said, declining to be named as the deliberations are confidential. Read more>>
Oxley Execs Bought S$5M of Their Own Stock Last Week
Oxley Holdings executive chairman and chief executive Ching Chiat Kwong bought more than 11 million company shares on the open market from Tuesday to Thursday for S$3.9 million, joining the company’s deputy chief executive in a bout of buying activity this week.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Oxley deputy CEO Eric Low bought 2.97 million shares on the open market for S$1.05 million, or an average share price of 35.4 Singapore cents. Read more>>
Japan’s Sekisui House Wins Approval for 1300-Unit Sydney Project
Japanese developer Sekisui House has won approval for its $1 billion, 1300-apartment masterplanned development in Sydney’s Hills Shire district.
The developer’s first 121-apartment building, Imperial, which was approved in July 2017, will now be followed by six more phases of construction across the 8.8-hectare site. Read more>>
GIC Warns on Slowing Returns
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte. warned that its investment returns will be lower in coming years, as trade disputes escalate and the odds of a global economic slump increase.
In a sign of its growing caution, GIC has reduced the proportion of its money allocated to developed economy stocks and boosted the share in cash and nominal bonds, its annual report released Friday showed. The wealth fund’s annualized real rate of return fell to 3.4 percent in the 20 years to March 31, from 3.7 percent in the prior comparable period. Read more>>
Rising Land Prices Seen Propping Up China Investment Data
Building things—roads, airports, train lines and the like—has long been a staple of China’s economy. Now, headline investment growth levels are stalling. That’s worrying enough. The situation behind the figures is, perhaps, even scarier.
China’s year-to-date investment growth in May slowed to 6.1%—the lowest since the mid-1990s. Even that weak figure is misleading, because a land price bubble is flattering the data. Nominal real-estate investment was 10% percent higher in the first five months of 2018, including a whopping 69% rise in land investment. Actual spending on construction and installation dropped 3%. Read more>>
Carrie Lam Says Land Reclamation at Outer Islands Inevitable
Chief Executive Carrie Lam has said that land reclamation beyond Victoria Harbour is unavoidable in the long run. She also said on Thursday that the government can review policies on limiting non-locals from buying properties if necessary.
The government’s Task Force on Land Supply has been conducting a months-long consultation on the issue of finding land for future use. Land reclamation is one of the dozens of potential choices. Read more>>
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