Co-Working Operators Cut Staff in HK as Funding Dries Up and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Just one month after backing away from a potential lease deal at The Center in Hong Kong, one of the mainland’s biggest co-working companies is already laying off staff and revising projections, according to a media account today, raising the prospects that used office chairs could soon litter Hong Kong like unloved shared bikes in Shanghai and Beijing. Also in the news, CapitaLand’s Ascott serviced apartment division has expanded its global portfolio to more than 100,000 rooms and a Singapore private equity firm wants to find out if there’s room for one more logistics platform in India. Read on for all these stories and more.

Kr Space Said Cutting Staff, Scaling Back in Hong Kong

A drought in financing from venture capitalists has affected co-working space operators who have been heavily reliant on funding to fuel their rapid expansion and valuation. And amid the funding crunch, even major operators such as Kr Space have found the going tough.

Forty companies in the shared-office sector have vanished in the 10 months from January to October 2018, while about 40 per cent of co-working projects are more than half empty, according to a report by the China Real Estate Chamber of Commerce (CRECC), an information exchange platform for the mainland’s property sector. Read more>>

Office Rents in HK’s Central Set to Rise 5% in 2019: Nomura

The world’s most expensive place to rent office space may be about to get even costlier amid higher demand from co-working firms, according to Nomura.

The cost of renting office space in Hong Kong’s main business district, Central, will rise by up to 5 per cent this year, according to an adjusted forecast by Nomura analyst Joyce Kwock on Monday. Read more>>

CapitaLand’s Ascott Signs Up 26 New Properties Globally

CapitaLand’s serviced residence arm, The Ascott, has secured contracts for 26 properties with over 4,600 units across 11 countries, the group announced yesterday.

Of these properties, half will be established in China from this year to 2023, and one is slated to open in Singapore this year. The new additions will boost Ascott’s portfolio to more than 100,000 units, and mark a second consecutive year of growth. Read more>>

Fosun’s Thomas Cook to Open Two Hotels in China

Thomas Cook China is to build two new own-brand hotels in Asia.

In a ceremony in Shanghai, Thomas Cook Group chief executive Peter Fankhauser and tourism executive director and chief executive, Jim Qian, signed memorandums of understanding for the development of a Casa Cook and a Thomas Cook Sunwing Family Resort in Lijiang in southwestern China, and Taicang near Shanghai, respectively.

The Lijiang resort will be the first Casa Cook in Asia. Read more>>

Xander Said in Talks to Launch India Logistics Platform

Real estate-focused private equity (PE) firm Xander Group Inc. is in talks with potential investors to set up a logistics platform in India, said two people directly aware of the ongoing discussions. Both requested anonymity as the talks are private. Based in Singapore, Xander invests primarily in companies in infrastructure, hospitality, entertainment, retail and real estate sectors.

It manages equity capital in excess of $2 billion. In the past, the PE firm has raised capital from several global investors, most recently from Dutch pension fund manager APG to co-invest in the firm’s retail platform, Virtuous Retail South Asia Pte Ltd. Read more>>

Singapore Developers Feeling Pessimistic in 2019

Developers in Singapore remain largely pessimistic over their expectations for the property market in 2019 amidst local economic uncertainties such as tight competition, global headwinds and an excess supply from en bloc sales, according to responses to the Real Estate Sentiment Index (RESI).

Jointly developed by the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (REDAS), the Department of Real Estate (DRE), and the National University of Singapore (NUS), the index measures the perceptions and expectations amongst senior executives on the market conditions in Singapore on a score range from 0 to 10. Read more>>

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