China Home Prices Rose 12.4% in February and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

China may be clamping down on home prices this year, but the government hasn’t been able to keep the housing market out of the headlines, especially not with the news this weekend that home prices continued to rise by double digits in February. Meanwhile the battle for China Vanke is entering the final stages at Evergrande hands over its voting rights, and Beijing boosts housing downpayments to a new nationwide high. Read on for all these stories and more.

China Home Prices Rose 12.4% in February

China’s February home prices rose, although at a flat pace compared with a month earlier, as a slew of restrictive policies by local authorities deterred speculative buying and caused capital to flow from the biggest cities to smaller outlying urban centres.

February home prices in China’s 70 largest cities jumped 12.4 per cent from a year ago. Compared to a month earlier, February prices rose 0.4 per cent after seasonal adjustments by Goldman Sachs, based on data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. Read more>>

Evergrande Signs Over Vanke Voting Rights to Shenzhen Metro

China Vanke said Shenzhen Metro would become its largest shareholder in terms of voting rights after a proxy agreement with its No. 3 shareholder, a move that gives Vanke management more clout in its power struggle with Baoneng Group.

The property giant has been at the center of a complex battle for boardroom control – rare among listed firms in China – after the Baoneng financial conglomerate built up a 25 percent stake to become its largest shareholder and sought to oust management. Read more>>

School Reputations Drive Beijing Housing Prices

In Beijing’s overheated housing market, where schools go, money follows.

On average, a 90-square-meter two-bedroom apartment in the Chinese capital costs about 8 million yuan ($1.16 million). But tiny basement apartments without ventilation in some neighborhoods close to popular schools near Beijing’s Financial Street cost that much. In another area near the old city wall in Deshengmen, where several top schools are located, that amount was barely enough to buy half that floor space. Read more>>

Higher Rates Won’t Dent Asia Real Estate Says LaSalle

Asian real estate remains attractive due to relatively high yields despite U.S. monetary tightening as the pace of interest rate increases in the region is expected to be slow, an executive at LaSalle Investment Management said on Thursday.

Elysia Tse, LaSalle’s head of research & Strategy, Asia Pacific, identified China as a market with huge business growth potential, and brushed aside concerns over currency fluctuations and Beijing’s capital control policies. Read more>>

Li Keqiang Says China Will Control Home Prices

China added a pledge to contain the country’s fast rising home prices to its annual work report yesterday, as a red-hot property market resists cooling measures and purchase restrictions spread out from the biggest cities.

Several lower-tier cities have raised the bar for home purchases this month as speculators from outside flood smaller markets, with home prices nationwide continuing to rise. Read more>>

Beijing Boosts Home Downpayments to as High as 80%

Beijing municipal government imposed the harshest down payment requirements in history on Friday, after previous property cooling measures failed to prevent an ongoing and frenetic home-buying spree.

Down payments for second-time “ordinary home” buyers was raised to a minimum 60 per cent, from 50 per cent before, while second-time “non-ordinary home” buyers will have to pay a minimum of 80 per cent, up from 70 per cent, according to the city’s housing and banking authorities. Read more>>

Swire Properties Net Profit Rose 7% in 2016

Swire Properties, one of Hong Kong’s oldest and largest builders of luxury homes and grade-A offices, says it will still bid competitively for development sites put on sale in the city by government tender, “if something suit us”.

Chief executive Guy Bradley said the firm’s appetite for land in Hong Kong remain strong despite mainland developers’ bidding having escalated prices in recent months. Read more>>

Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter for headlines as they happen.