JP Morgan Says HK Cooling Measures Miss Their Mark and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Escalating house prices lead the way in Mingtiandi’s roundup of Asia real estate headlines today with the news that a top US investment bank says Hong Kong house prices will continue to climb, despite the government’s cooling measures, and a Beijing think-tank says expensive homes in China’s biggest cities will have a domino effect.

In other news around the region, a major Singapore-based developer is seeding a new fund with two large Shanghai property assets, and a real estate group from down under is setting up a $1 billion REIT in Singapore.

Elsewhere, a famous Indian Ocean archipelago is due to pull in $450 million of property investments this year, while a Singapore IPO bombs.

JP Morgan Says HK Cooling Measures Miss Their Mark

Hong Kong’s government will keep rolling out cooling measures designed to rein in skyrocketing property prices, even though they have a very limited effect, according to JP Morgan.

The American investment banking giant joined a growing chorus of bullish forecasts, predicting the city’s home prices will go up by another 5 per cent this year. Read more>>

CapitaLand Seeds New Fund with Shanghai Property Assets

CapitaLand will divest from two Shanghai properties, Innov Center and Pufa Tower and inject both in its maiden discretionary real estate equity fund, CapitaLand Asia Partners I (CAP I), as seed assets.

Innov Center consists of three office buildings and a two-storey retail podium with a total gross floor area (GFA) of 80,701 square metres. Read more>>

Rising Home Prices in China’s Big Cities Will Spread Nationwide

Growth in home prices in China’s bigger cities is expected to outperform the national average in 2019, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a top government think tank, said in report released on Thursday.

A relatively short supply of new homes will exert an upwards pressure on national home prices, which the think tank said could add 7.6 per cent to 9,206 yuan ($1,350) per square metre. However, sales by floor space could decline 0.84 percent, from a historical high in 2018, according to the report. Read more>>

Lendlease Edges Closer to AUS$1B Mall REIT in Singapore

Australia’s Lendlease could potentially be the next REIT to list in Singapore, following the footsteps of two recent US REITs.

According to The Australian, Lendlease has appointed investment banks Citigroup and DBS to handle the listing. Read more>>

JLL Says Over $450M Will Be Invested in Maldive Resorts in 2019

The Maldives’ hospitality industry is set to see its “highest ever” transaction level in 2019, with more than $450 million worth of resort transactions either completed or under offer, according to real estate consultancy JLL.

Previously dominated by Asian investors, the Maldives is now attracting cross-border capital from Europe and the US, JLL says. Read more>>

CDL Affiliate Extends Deadline for RMB 465M Chengdu Sale

Mainboard-listed First Sponsor Group’s indirect wholly owned subsidiary, Chengdu Gaeronic Real Estate (CGRE), has extended the payment deadline, allowed payment in instalments, and further amended other payment terms for its proposed sale of certain parts of Chengdu Cityspring.

CGRE is selling parts of the mixed-use residential and commercial project in China for around 465 million yuan ($67 million) in cash to Minyoun Industrial Group, a Chengdu-based hotel, real estate and finance company. Read more>>

Eagle Hospitality Trust IPO Falls Short by More than 50%

Eagle Hospitality Trust (EHT)’s initial public offering (IPO) saw less than half of its stapled securities subscribed under the public offer, resulting in the joint bookrunners and underwriters having to take up the bulk of the allotment of unsubscribed stapled securities.

A portion of the unsubscribed stapled securities was also re-allocated to the international placement, the stapled group’s managers said in an exchange filing on Thursday night. Read more>>

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