Hong Kong Signals Property Tax Cut on the Way and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Potential tax cuts in Asia’s most expensive housing market lead the region’s real estate headlines today and Hong Kong’s new chief executive looks for ways to stop a housing market in freefall. Also in the news, mainland China’s residential retreat could grind on for years and Brookfield is getting ready to test the strength of Australia’s hotel industry rebound.

Hong Kong Ready to Roll Back Cooling Measures as Housing Market Freezes Over

Hong Kong is considering easing property taxes and visa restrictions as authorities seek to curb a pandemic brain drain that has threatened the city’s status as an international financial hub.

Chief Executive John Lee could include the measures in his maiden policy address later this month, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. Read more>>

Hong Kong Market Expected to Stabilise on Tax Roll-Back

Hong Kong leader John Lee’s potential plan to ease property taxes for non-residents is likely to stabilize the housing market without stimulating prices that are being stunted by rising interest rates.

The city’s chief executive may relax the stamp duty for non-resident property buyers as part of measures to attract foreign talent to be announced in his maiden policy address later this month, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. Read more>>

Mainland Local Governments Buying Homes to Prop Up Market

Some local governments in China are buying homes in bulk from developers or encouraging state-owned entities to do so in their latest efforts to prop up the real estate market, the Securities Times reported on Thursday (Oct 13).

The city government of Suzhou in eastern Jiangsu province plans to buy about 10,000 new units, the newspaper reported, citing market information. Jinan city in Shandong province is proposing to purchase 3,000 units to rent out, the paper reported, according to a government notice. That document was also reported by other local media but is no longer available on the government’s website. Read more>>

Evergrande Failures Lead to Layoffs and More Defaults

When China Evergrande Group began struggling under a mountain of debt last year, it quietly set off a chain reaction across the country.

Chinese authorities prevented a disorderly collapse of the real-estate colossus, but Evergrande’s distress has spread across China’s housing market and many related industries. The situation has worsened this year into what is now a full-blown property downturn that has become a major drag on China’s economy. Read more>>

China Market Recovery Could Drag On for Years

The wave of stimulus aimed at reviving China’s housing market – billions in bank loans, interest rate cuts and support for developers – has done little to help Echo sell her home near Shanghai.

The media worker has received only four nibbles from potential buyers in six months, and is considering a 10% cut to her asking price of 3.3 million yuan ($460,000). She thinks this stagnant housing market, the worst in China’s modern history, will drag on for years. Read more>>

Meyer Park Condo Owners Try Again for Collective Sale in Singapore

Freehold sea-fronting Meyer Park has been relaunched for collective sale at the same reserve price of S$420 million ($292 million) after the previous attempt closed on Sep 9 without a sale.

The land betterment charge for the 96,672 square foot (sq ft) site at 81 and 83 Meyer Road is now about S$90.9 million, which works out to a land rate of around S$1,764 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr), including a 7 per cent bonus floor area. This compares with a land rate of about S$1,720 psf ppr in its Jul 25 launch, when the development charge was a lower S$78.2 million. Read more>>

Singapore Shophouse Deals Dipped in Q3

Shophouse sales in Singapore plunged in Q3 2022, down 49.3 per cent from the previous quarter, Huttons’ latest market update on Thursday (Oct 13) showed.

The total volume of shophouse sales amounted to 34 transactions in Q3, from 67 transactions in Q2 of 2022. This is also a 54 per cent decline in sales year-on-year. Shophouse sales totalled 153 transactions year-to-date, down from 194 transactions in the same period a year ago. Read more>>

Brookfield Hoping to Get S$108M for Sofitel Brisbane

Canadian alternative asset manager Brookfield is having a fresh go at selling Brisbane’s biggest hotel, the 416-room Sofitel Brisbane Central, which has come to market with an asking price of around $175 million ($108 million).

Spanning a large 7432sq m site at 249 Turbot Street above Central Station in the heart of the Brisbane CBD, the 30-storey complex includes the city’s largest conferencing centre and five food and beverage outlets. It was acquired by Brookfield as part of its $410 million takeover of listed hotel owner Thakral Holdings in 2012. Read more>>

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