HK Hotel Room Rates Plunge 46% As Vacancy Soars and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Discounted room rates lead the way in Mingtiandi’s roundup of Asia real estate headlines today with the news that Hong Kong’s hotels are suffering as visitors stay away from the teargas-filled Asian financial hub.

In other news around the region, a Singaporean developer boosts its bid to take control of the United Engineers’ boardroom, while a workspace management startup raises $12 million in a funding round.

Elsewhere, bargain hunters in Hong Kong cause a spike in stamp duty income, while a mainland developer puts the brakes on its electric car business.

Hotel Room Rates Plunge 46% in Hong Kong As Vacancy Soars

Investments in new hotels grounded to a halt in Hong Kong, as valuations fell ten percent amid record vacancy rates caused by business travellers and tourists who are avoiding the city’s anti-government protests.

The average room rate at three-star hotels fell 46 per cent to HK$446 ($57) for the week that ended on October 27, from $105 a year earlier, according to data by accommodation platform WebBeds. Tourists and duty-free shoppers from mainland China led the exodus, with their number of room nights falling 24 percent during the week, compared with the same time last year. Read more>>

Eyes on Oxley as Yanlord Moves to Buy Out United Engineers

Yanlord Land Group has raised its cash offer for United Engineers (UE) to S$2.70 ($1.98) per share, after scooping up 39.2 million shares or 6.15 per cent of UE in married trades done at the same price just before noon on Tuesday.

The Business Times understands that the sellers are likely to be multiple accounts aggregated by a broker. Oxley Holdings, the only other shareholder in UE with a sizeable block of shares, confirmed that it was not behind the sale. Read more>>

Smarten Spaces Raises $12M in Series A Funding

Singapore-based Smarten Spaces, a software-as-a-service startup providing solutions for workspace management in commercial and industrial properties, has raised US$12 million in a series A round led by Hong Kong’s Symphony International Holdings.

Launched in 2017, Smarten Spaces offers an end-to-end AI platform that aims to digitize spaces and increase space utilization for commercial properties, enterprises, co-working, co-living, and warehousing. Read more>>

Singapore Condo Resales Pick Up Pace in October

Resale prices for non-landed private residential properties in Singapore continued their rise in October following an increase in September, while volumes picked up from a slight dip, according to flash figures from real estate portal SRX Property.

Condominium resale prices rose 0.8 percent in October from the previous month, faster than the 0.4 percent increase in September following three straight months of small dips. Sales volume for the month rose 3.6 percent with 807 units resold compared with 779 units in September. Read more>>

Andhra Pradesh Cancels India City Deal with Singapore Consortium

The state government of Andhra Pradesh in southern India has issued an order cancelling its agreement with Singapore developers to build the capital city Amaravati.

The order issued on 11 November said the government would “refrain from proceeding further in the start-up area development project of 6.84 square kilometres”. Read more>>

Hong Kong Stamp Duty Income Jumps as Bargain Home Buyers Rush In

Individual and corporate homebuyers piled into Hong Kong property last month to pick up bargains as city developers offered the most number of units for sale in several months after a surprise relaxation of mortgage entitlements for first-home buyers.

Buyers’ stamp duty, a 15 per cent surcharge on the price of a property that must be borne by non-permanent Hong Kong residents and corporate buyers, almost trebled last month to HK$880 million ($112 million), while the number of transactions almost doubled to 296, according to data by the Inland Revenue Department. Read more>>

Evergrande Slams Brakes On Electric Car Development

China Evergrande plans to slow down its pace of investments in electric vehicles as sales of the environmentally friendly cars continue to fall in the mainland, but the company says it is on track to debut its “Hengchi 1” model next year.

The company, which sees itself as Tesla’s main challenger in China, will invest a total of RMB 45 billion ($6.4 billion) by 2021, chairman Hui Ka-yan said at a conference organised by Evergrande that brought together global car-related companies in Guangzhou. Read more>>

PropNex Posts 15% Drop in Net Profit

Real estate agency PropNex on Wednesday posted a 15.2 percent drop in its third quarter net profit to S$6.1 million ($4.5 million) from S$7.2 million for the same period last year, as it took in lower commission income while bearing higher staff costs and depreciation expenses.

For the three months to Sept 30, earnings per share stood at S$0.0165, versus S$0.0195 for the same period last year. Read more>>

Topgolf Planning to Double Down on Asia

Topgolf Entertainment will expand into Asia, potentially doubling the number of venues it has opened worldwide amid reports that a potential IPO could be on the horizon.

The company is partnering with Sports Entertainment Asia H.K. Limited (SEAL) to open its gamified driving-range-meets-sports-bar Topgolf venues in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and the Philippines. Read more>>

Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.

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