IHG Pins Hopes on China as Revenue Plunges 80% and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

The owner of the Holiday Inn brand leads the way in Mingtiandi’s roundup of Asia real estate headlines today with the news that the London-listed hotel group is pinning its hopes on China’s recovery as the hospitality industry faces the biggest challenge in its history.

In other news around the region, co-living operators say they are ready to adapt their shared living spaces to the demands of life post-COVID-19, while the Chinese government has slapped restrictions on construction of new supertalls in urban areas. Further south, work-from-home policies may be accelerating the decentralisation of Southeast Asia’s richest city as corporate occupiers explore new workplace strategies.

IHG Pins Hopes on China as Room Revenue Plunges 80%

Holiday Inn-owner InterContinental Hotels said on Thursday it was seeing signs of recovery in some markets as it tightened up on safety and cleaning procedures following an 80 percent plunge in average room revenue in April.

Chief Executive Keith Barr said the coronavirus crisis was the biggest challenge the hotel industry has ever faced and the company said it was cleaning all public areas rigorously every 1-2 hours in a bid to reclaim customer confidence. Read more>>

Beijing and Local Cities Tussle Over Real Estate Policy

A tale that goes back to China’s ancient Han Dynasty talks of farmers troubled by inconsistent government orders. A famous proverb describes directives sent out in the morning being changed by sunset.

Home buyers in China today may have a sense of deja vu. Local governments in China are announcing deregulatory actions for real estate development only to backtrack just days later, apparently in the face of central government pressure. Read more>>

Co-living Ready to Adapt to Post-pandemic Demands

Hong Kong property developer Alex Bent didn’t mean to venture into the co-living sector. But when he realised tenants at his serviced apartments weren’t using their kitchens much, it made sense to design some flats without them.

So at The Nate, a hybrid boutique development in Tsim Sha Tsui, Bent and Dinesh Nihalchand, his co-founder at real estate developer District 15, provided just six kitchens for 71 studio flats. Each flat has a bathroom, but laundry and living areas are shared. Read more>>

China Bans Supertall Skyscrapers

China has banned all cities from building new supertall skyscrapers except in ‘special’ circumstances to improve urban landscapes, according to a directive.

The central government has prohibited regional officials from ‘blindly designing and building’ towers taller than 500 metres (1,640 feet). Read more>>

Negative Equity Warning as Singapore Eases Curbs

Unlike its regional competitor Singapore, Hong Kong has resisted relaxing property cooling measures and real estate lawmaker Abraham Shek Lai-him warned that this could lead to more negative equity cases.

Shek said some companies wanted to sell their properties to survive the downturn but they failed to do so due to such cooling measures. Read more>>

Pilot REITs Drive Stock Surge on Mainland Bourses

Infrastructure stocks surged in mainland exchanges on Wednesday, as investors expected a newly launched financing vehicle for the sector will facilitate economic recovery while containing debt risks, analysts said.

Seven listed firms related to infrastructure construction hit the 10-percent daily gain limit as the market reopened on Wednesday, after China launched a pilot program of publicly offered real estate investment trusts, or REITs, during the market closure. Read more>>

Singapore CBD Decentralisation Accelerates as Remote Working Takes Hold

The planning authorities here have spent decades striving towards decentralising the Central Business District (CBD) by bringing workplaces closer to homes; and now in a matter of a few weeks, the revolution is well under way.

Companies have been forced to quickly discover the viability of working from home. Read more>>

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