Hong Kong’s housing market is predicted to get a bit shaky in 2016
Every day Mingtiandi scans the web and curates the day’s biggest stories for you. Here’s what we found today:
HK Foreclosures Predicted to Double in 2016
Property foreclosures in Hong Kong will double from current levels by the end of next year as a slowing economy hurts borrowers’ ability to service their mortgages, according to an auctioneer with 23 years of industry experience.
The average number of foreclosures has risen to 80 a month from about 50 to 60 in the first half of 2015, Tsang Kit-chun, Managing Director of AA Property Auctioneers Ltd., said in a phone interview on Friday. That’s still way slower than the the 6,000-a-month pace in 2003, following a six-year property bear market, he said. Read more>>
China Property: Who Will Insurance Companies Target Next?
Chinese insurance companies have been in a buying spree for property developers. Sino Ocean (3377.Hong Kong) is now majority owned by China Life Insurance (2628.Hong Kong) and Anbang Insurance, while China Vanke‘s (2202.Hong Kong) largest shareholder is now Foresea Life Insurance, after the latter plowed in a total of 35 billion yuan.
Despite all the property market trouble, insurance companies are attracted to developers because of good dividend payouts and tangible assets in prime cities, and also because insurers have much longer investment horizons, which makes them more tolerant of daily news flows. Read more>>
Beyond Property: Chinese Developers Look to Diversify
Chinese real-estate developer Yan Lugen has bet on an avant-garde art gallery and a water-skimming airplane. One area the property mogul won’t touch again: property. “These are my heartfelt words: I do not want to earn money in such an exhausting way anymore,” he said.
Mr. Yan is one of a growing number of developers who see no end to the pain in Chinese real estate and are looking to get out. Other developers are branching off into everything from banking to cosmetic surgery to women’s soccer. Read more>>
Mainland Conglomerate Borrowed RMB6.4B to Buy Vanke Stake
Concerns over excessive leverage within China’s corporate culture were back in focus on Wednesday, after property and insurance group Jushenghua provided details on how it managed to buy 9.7 billion yuan worth of stock in Vanke to become the largest shareholder in China’s No 1 residential developer.
Jushenghua said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that it had used financial leverage, borrowing twice the amount of its own cash investment to buy Vanke’s mainland-listed shares traded in Shenzhen. Read more>>
Beijing Hukou Restrictions Seen Triggering Price Hikes
A proposed points system that the capital’s government is considering using when giving permanent resident status to migrants will push up living costs by attracting high earners while driving away less-skilled workers, an expert has said.
Beijing’s government released a draft plan on December 10 that would introduce a scoring system similar to the merit-based points scheme for people who move to the United States so that migrants can get household registration documents known as hukou if they meet certain criteria. Read more>>
Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter for headlines as they happen.
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