In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, Hongkong Land does an about-face on co-working space, China Evergrande’s shares slip on fears that the developer might have to dilute its stake in a mainland bank it’s chummy with, and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund reviews its real estate strategy after a punishing pandemic.
Hongkong Land Opens Flexible Office Facility in Central
Hongkong Land, the biggest commercial landlord in the city’s Central business district, has opened a flexible work environment at one of the world’s most expensive office addresses, in a U-turn to its reticence to develop co-working space.
The developer’s Centricity Flex, spanning 25,000 square feet (2,322 square metres), opened Wednesday on the 17th and 18th floors of the Landmark Edinburgh Tower on Queen’s Road Central. Other tenants in the tower include the audit firm PwC, the Swiss private bank Bank J. Safra Sarasin and the white-shoe legal practices K&L Gates and Skadden Arps. Read more>>
Indebted China Oceanwide’s Shares Auctioned by Court
Chinese real estate developer Oceanwide Holdings Co Ltd faces major shareholding changes after part of its equity was put up for judicial sale by its indebted controlling shareholder.
A total of 294 million of Oceanwide Holdings’ shares were auctioned between Monday and Tuesday, records from a judicial auction platform run by Alibaba Group showed. The equity, originally held by China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co Ltd (China Oceanwide), accounted for 3.39 percent of Oceanwide Holdings. Read more>>
Evergrande Slips Amid Bank Stake Dilution Fear
China Evergrande shares fell 2.5 percent to HK$10.94 ($1.41) after Caixin’s WeNews reported that Liaoning’s local government asked the property developer to pare its stake in Shengjing Bank to dilute Evergrande’s stake.
Authorities in the northeastern province held discussions with China Evergrande to inject state capital into Shengjing Bank to dilute Evergrande’s stake, according to the report by WeNews. Read more>>
ADIA Reviews Real Estate Strategy as Pandemic Bites
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world’s biggest property investors, is considering changes to its real estate strategy after some of its major holdings suffered during the coronavirus pandemic, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The sovereign wealth fund is reviewing the performance of its property assets following weakness in a number of the shopping malls and office buildings in its portfolio, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. ADIA may consider cutting its exposure to some troubled investments, the people said. Read more>>
Hong Kong to Spend a Record $13B on Residential Redevelopment
Hong Kong’s Urban Renewal Authority is planning to deploy a record HK$100 billion ($13 billion) to redevelop old buildings as the city strives to increase housing supply.
The proposed sum, the largest in the authority’s history, includes the acquisition and construction costs for property redevelopment in the next five years, according to a document provided by the authority. It expects to provide 18,000 new homes with the budget. Read more>>
Guangzhou Market Hit by Tightened Policies, COVID Outbreak
Guangzhou’s property market has been hit hard by tightened policies aimed at cooling real estate prices, as well as an outbreak of the more infectious Delta variant of COVID-19.
The provincial capital of Guangdong and one of the cities in the Greater Bay Area cluster reported a slump in both home sales and viewings in the second quarter, traditionally a high season for transactions of residential property. Sales so far this month have fallen 77.9 percent compared with the same period last year. Read more>>
URA Launches Sale of Housing Sites in Singapore’s Buona Vista
The Urban Redevelopment Authority on Tuesday launched two residential-cum-commercial sites in Buona Vista for tender.
Both sites, which are zoned for residential development with commercial space at the first storey, have a lease period of 99 years. Together, the two parcels at Slim Barracks Rise can potentially yield 405 residential units. Read more>>
S$300M Site Near Singapore’s Botanic Gardens Stirs Luxury Interest
Amid the current sizzling Good Class Bungalow (GCB) market, a plum property just a stone’s throw from the Singapore Botanic Gardens has been generating much interest.
Sitting on nearly 90,000 square feet (8,361 square metres) of freehold land at 2 Lermit Road, within the Cluny Park GCB Area, the property could be worth S$300 million ($226.2 million) or more, according to market watchers. Read more>>
Tune in again soon for more real estate news and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.
Leave a Reply