HK Retailers Offered Monthly Leases as Sales Plummet and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Short-term leases lead the way in Mingtiandi’s roundup of Asia real estate headlines today with the news that landlords are offering shop tenants in Hong Kong monthly agreements as the retail sector continues to come under pressure in the Asian financial hub.

In other news around the region, a mainland China rental platform has filed for a Nasdaq IPO, while a Japanese conglomerate has formed a JV with a Vietnamese developer to build a $4 billion smart city just outside of Hanoi.

Elsewhere, more details emerge as Australian tax authorities pursue a Chinese tycoon said to be living in Hong Kong, and a Singapore developer acquires an Aussie real estate company as part of a claim settlement.

Hong Kong Landlords Resort to Short-term Shop Leases

Short-term leases for street-level shops in Hong Kong could go mainstream by year-end, with no resolution in sight to the city’s worst political crisis in recent years, property consultancy Knight Frank has said.

“Landlords have had to adopt shorter-term leases because of such a dire situation. It is better than leaving shops vacant,” said Helen Mak, senior director and head of retail services at Knight Frank. “We will see more such monthly agreements. Some landlords may even allow tenants to renew every month. This could become a mainstream format by the end of the year, as we see no solution emerging in the short term.” Read more>>

Chinese Home Rental Platform Q&K Files for US IPO

Q&K International Group, which operates a long-term apartment rental platform in China, filed on Monday for an initial public offering (IPO) on the US stock market.

The company plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “QK,” with an expectation to raise up to $100 million, according to its prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Read more>>

Wheelock Residential Project Flops in Debut Weekend Amid Hong Kong Unrest

A batch of new flats at a project in Tseung Kwan O failed to hit the mark with buyers on Monday as increasingly volatile anti-government protests continued to rattle sentiment in the world’s most expensive housing market.

Wheelock Properties managed to sell only 20 out of 101 units in the latest batch at its Grand Marini project in Lohas Park that went on sale today. Read more>>

WeWork’s Lease of NYC Building From Ex-CEO Becomes Conflict of Interest Case Study

As WeWork tallies up the damage from its New York shopping sprees, the splurge it made at Lord & Taylor may prove to be the most costly of all.

In January, WeWork teamed up in an $850 million deal to buy the department-store chain’s historic flagship at 424 Fifth Avenue. In an unusual move a month later, it signed a long-term lease to also become the lone tenant in the 10-story, 660,000-square-foot building. Read more>>

Sumitomo JV to Build $4B Smart City in Vietnam

Leading Vietnamese developer BRG Group and Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp will spend JPY 450 billion ($4.21 billion) to develop a smart city on the outskirts of Hanoi, the partners said.

The project, slated to be one of the largest urban developments in Vietnam, kicks off in 2020 with the construction of about 7,000 apartments and homes. Read more>>

Chinese Tycoon at Centre of Australian Corruption Probe Living in Hong Kong

Australian tax authorities know where to find their man – living in a gilded quasi-exile in Hong Kong.

They also know what they want. That would be back taxes of 140 million Australian dollars, or about $100 million. Yet there’s more than just a mega-tax bill at the center of the case into Huang Xiangmo, a Chinese-born tycoon with a penchant for living large and spending big in political circles – including once dropping off a political donation worth about $70,000 in a supermarket shopping bag. Read more>>

Oxley Acquires Full Ownership of Australian Builder

Oxley Holdings has acquired the remaining 60 percent interest in integrated property firm Pindan Group for zero consideration, it said.

The 45.5 million shares in the Perth-headquartered company were transferred to Oxley in settlement of a claim by Oxley relating to Pindan failing to meet agreed performance targets. Oxley did not disclose details of these targets in its filing. Read more>>

Singapore Condo Prices Edge Up in September

Resale prices of Singapore non-landed private residential properties picked up slightly in September after a previous tepid month, while volume of sales inched down further from August, according to monthly figures from real estate portal SRX Property released on Tuesday.

Overall condominium resale prices rose 0.8 percent in September from a year ago. Read more>>

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