GIC Buying Paris Office Tower for $539M and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Singapore’s lust for European real estate assets opens a new chapter this week with news that the city-state’s sovereign wealth fund has spent more than half of a billion dollars to buy an office building in the City of Love. Feelings are likely to be a bit less friendly in mainland China as the government invites developers to share their thoughts regarding a potential ban on pre-sales of homes, and in Singapore, home buyers seem to already be shrugging off July’s cooling measures as home sales got hot again in September. Keep reading for all these stories and more.

GIC Buying Paris Office Tower for $539M

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC has agreed to acquire Tour Ariane, an office tower in Paris, for about 465 million euros (US$539 million). The 40-storey office tower, which is owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, is located in the heart of the La Defense business district in the French capital.

The building has a gross lettable area of 64,500 sq m and is within walking distance from two main transport hubs and multiple amenities, said GIC in a press release. Read more>>

Developers Worry as China Considers Ban on Pre-Sales

Chinese property developers have been invited to give their input on a controversial proposal that would prohibit sales of flats before they are finished, potentially expanding discussion currently underway in Guangdong province. A broad prohibition of the sales practise could weigh negatively on shares of large property developers and remove a key source of funding to smaller developers, according to experts.

Zhang Peng, president of Modern Land, a Beijing-based developer, told the Post that he has been contacted by local authorities about the possibility of phasing out presale arrangements. Read more>>

SG Private Home Sales Jump 51% in September

Buyers were back in force last month to send private home sales rocketing out of the doldrums they fell into after new cooling measures and the slowdown during the Hungry Ghost month.

Developers sold 932 private homes last month, up 51 per cent from the 617 units they moved in August and around 42 per cent ahead of the 657 units booked in September last year. The September figures exclude executive condominiums. Read more>>

CITIC Capital Happy With Shift to Commercial Real Estate

Hong Kong’s Citic Capital, one of the biggest real estate investors in China, insists its decision to withdraw from the red-hot housing market and focus more on commercial sites over the past two years is reaping rewards, as Chinese central government efforts continue to ease runaway prices and tighten mortgage credit.

Citic officials say the U-turn is linked to those two factors, but also that it foresaw a strong correction on the way, in a market where prices have been on hyper-drive for years. Read more>>

Faraday Future Looks Futile After Failing to Pay Staff

More than 60 Chinese employees of electric car maker Faraday Future say they have not received salaries this month and they are blaming their new boss Evergrande. Faraday Future (FF) staff in China had expected their salaries from August 20th to September 21st to be paid out on October 15th.

According to an FF employee quoted by Tencent News, on the evening of the 15th, some workers inquired about their salaries in an online chat group of 500 Chinese FF workers. Evergrande Faraday executives did not reply. Half an hour later the company employee group was disbanded. Read more>>

HK Policy Changes Fuel Conversion of Industrial Buildings

Industrial property owners in Hong Kong are rushing to subdivide their buildings into smaller, liveable units in the hope of benefiting from Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s recently announced proposal to allow such properties to be used for transitional housing.

The Post visited two such buildings in Kwun Tong, an industrial area where rents are cheaper by at least 37.5 per cent that other nearby residential units. Read more>>

80,000 Home Project Could Change Face of Mumbai

Mumbai’s skyrocketing property prices are likely to come down by as much as 25 to 30 per cent in the coming years. In the next five years, over seven lakh 2BHK housing units would become available in Mumbai, given the ‘special project vehicles’ model for redevelopment of Dharavi, which was passed by the state Cabinet on Tuesday.

“Dharavi is a dream project, and it will generate over 5 crore sq.ft construction space, worth roughly 60-80,000 housing units. The rehabilitation cost of this project run over Rs 22,000 crore. We are committed to bringing the down the soaring housing prices by 25-30 per cent,” said housing minister Prakash Mehta. Read more>>

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