ESR Korean REIT Buys $145M Warehouse and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Warehouses lead today’s collection of property news from around Asia, as ESR’s Korean REIT purchases a fully leased warehouse from its sponsor.

Also in the headlines, New World has sold out the latest phase of a project in the New Territories, as the city’s house-hungry investors regain their appetites, and Evergrande’s latest round of trouble seems to have infected its share price.

ESR Korean REIT Adds $145M Logistic Asset

South Korea’s first industrial real estate investment trust, ESR Kendall Square REIT, has completed the acquisition of a modern logistics facility in the Greater Seoul suburban market for $145 million. The property, called Anseong Logistics Park, was a committed dropdown asset planned for inclusion upon the company’s IPO last December.

Anseong is currently 100 percent master-leased by e-commerce player Coupang, with a 4.5-year weighted average lease expiry and gross floor area of 94,875 square metres (1.02 million square feet). Read more>>

New World Sells Out HK Project Launch

New World Development has reported another sell-out property launch, as Hong Kong’s real estate investors piled into the city’s biggest weekend sale since November, their confidence boosted by a tapering coronavirus situation in the city.

The developer of The Pavilia Farm Phase III in Tai Wai sold all 331 flats on offer before 8pm for HK$4.37 billion ($563.4 million) in sales revenue. A record 27,000 registrations of interest were received through New World’s smartphone app, or 82 bids for every available flat on average. Read more>>

Evergrande Slumps to One-Year Low as Regulators Tighten Grip

China Evergrande Group, the country’s most indebted developer, fell to the lowest in more than a year after investors were spooked by regulatory moves that could stoke risks at the conglomerate.

Shares dropped as much as 5.3 percent to HK$10.82 ($1.39) in Hong Kong trading on Monday. Evergrande’s electric vehicle unit, China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group, slid as much as 8.3 percent to HK$32.60, the lowest since January. Read more>>

Hong Kong Investor Splashes Out A$19.5M on Melbourne Office

Despite the many obituaries written for the office in the past 12 months, investors are undeterred. This week, a Hong Kong investor splashed out A$19.5 million ($15.1 million) on Beams Projects’ new office in Richmond, an inner suburb of Melbourne.

The freshly leased building at 45 Wangaratta Street was snapped up in a deal reflecting a highly competitive 3.7 percent yield with only a 21-day settlement. Read more>>

Hong Lai Huat Group Sells Singapore Farm Resort to Focus on Cambodia 

SGX-listed property and real estate developer Hong Lai Huat Group’s wholly owned subsidiary HLH Agri International will be disposing of its entire equity interest in HLH Agri R&D for an aggregate consideration of S$4.8 million ($3.6 million).

HLH Agri R&D is the legal owner of a 20-year leasehold agri-tainment farm resort operating under the name Gallop Kranji Farm Resort. It is located at 10 Neo Tiew Lane 2 and is currently leased by Blue Dolphin, which is the managing agent of the farm resort, from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2021. Read more>>

‘Do We Need to Be in Hong Kong?’ Global Companies Eye the Exits

Apprehensive about Hong Kong’s future as the best place to do business in China and beyond, multinational firms are pulling up stakes, adding to uncertainty about the outlook for one of the world’s premier commercial cities.

Buffeted by political upheaval, an authoritarian crackdown by mainland China and the pandemic, global companies and professionals are heading to rival business cities such as Singapore, as well as to Shanghai, the Chinese commercial hub some see as a better place to profit from the nation’s vast economy. Read more>>

Exodus of Hongkongers Unlikely to Dent City’s Home Prices

A wave of people leaving Hong Kong in the wake of 2019’s social unrest and the later introduction of a controversial national security law has proved insufficient to dampen the city’s famously lofty property market.

Home prices, which took a small hit from the coronavirus pandemic, are once again on the rise and approaching previous record highs. The reasons are numerous; they include a lack of supply and the fact that not everyone leaving chooses to sell up, according to analysts. Read more>>

S-REITs’ YTD Asset Acquisitions Exceed S$5B

Singapore real estate investment trusts (S-REITs) and property trusts continue to increase assets under management. This year, 15 acquisitions have been announced with a value of over S$5 billion ($3.8 billion).

Of these, 11 were industrial and logistics-related properties. Three of the largest announced were by Mapletree Industrial Trust, Ascendas REIT and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust. Read more>>

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