Chongqing is among eight cities that have just imposed curbs on home sales
Local governments in China have been racing to lower home purchase restrictions in an effort to revive flagging housing sales in recent weeks, but those efforts are still falling short according to the latest government data.
Also in the news today, owners of a pair of Singapore complexes are making fresh efforts at completing collective sales and a fugitive former Beijing property developer will be paying $37 million to creditors as a US bankruptcy court demands return of a missing yacht.
China Home Sales Dropped 29% in March, Property Investment Slipped 2.4%
China’s housing slowdown deepened last month, with new-home sales falling the most since the downturn began last July as the country’s latest COVID-19 outbreak took hold.
Sales by value dropped 29 percent in March from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations based on year-to-date figures released Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics. Real estate development investment resumed falling with a 2.4 percent drop after a brief expansion in the first two months. Read more>>
Mainland Economy Said to Grow 4.8% in Q1, Despite Lockdowns
China’s economic growth edged up to a still-weak 4.8 percent over a year earlier in the first three months of 2022 as industrial cities shut down to fight coronavirus outbreaks, threatening to disrupt global trade and manufacturing.
Growth in the world’s second-largest economy crept up from the previous quarter’s 4 percent after a slump triggered by tighter controls on use of debt by China’s vast real estate industry, government data showed Monday. Compared with the previous quarter, as other major economies are measured, growth slowed to 1.3 percent from 1.4 percent. Read more>>
Condo Complex in Singapore’s Jurong Area Marketed at $470M
En bloc hopeful Lakepoint Condominium will be relaunched for collective sale in Singapore on 19 April, exclusive marketing agency PropNex Realty said Monday. The last tender had closed without a bid on 22 December 2021. Owners of the Jurong condominium development then entered into a “private treaty negotiation process”.
The reserve price for the latest tender remains unchanged at S$640 million ($470 million). This translates to a land rate of S$959 to S$982 per square foot per plot ratio, including the development charge and a lease top-up premium from JTC. Read more>>
Mixed-Use Project on Singapore’s Bukit Timah Road for Sale at $62M
Sixth Avenue Centre, a mixed-use boutique site located at 805 Bukit Timah Road in Singapore, will be relaunched for collective sale via a tender on 19 April. The freehold site will be launched at a reserve price of S$85 million ($62.5 million), which is unchanged from the reserve price in its previous tender in 2021, Cushman & Wakefield said Monday.
Cushman & Wakefield had originally launched a tender for Sixth Avenue Centre in November 2021. The property had also been put up for collective sale in 2018, at an indicative guide price of S$90.5 million. Read more>>
Sales Slump at Upscale Singapore Projects
The recent property cooling measures in Singapore have affected the sales of construction group Tiong Seng’s two projects located in Balmoral and Orchard, due to the higher additional buyer’s stamp duty rates for foreign buyers.
Even so, the SGX-listed company is optimistic that the resumption of international travel and the location of the two properties — Sloane Residences and Cairnhill 16 — which are close to good schools and amenities, may encourage more sales. Read more>>
Fugitive Mainland Property Tycoon Guo Wengui to Pay $37M in Debt Dispute
A $37 million wire transfer will serve as a substitute for a 150-foot luxury yacht tied to exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, saving him from the threat of jail time.
The boat, called Lady May, is currently undergoing maintenance off the coast of France, where it’s stuck until June at the earliest. That’s a problem for Guo: the businessman has been ordered by a New York judge to bring the vessel back to US waters, where debt collectors can access it. The businessman got a $30 million loan from a fund in 2008, which according to the lender wasn’t repaid. Read more>>
Hong Kong Retail Landlords Cut Rents, But Only on Short-Term Leases
Individual retail landlords in Hong Kong are hoping to sign up new short-term tenants with discounted rents in the hope of lifting them when border reopening brings back high-spending mainland tourists to spark an industry revival, analysts said.
The owner of a 10,000 square foot (929 square metre) store in Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mong Kok, for example, is offering the property at almost 60 percent below its current rate, when its existing tenant, local fashion house Izzue, departs later this month. Read more>>
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