Hong Kong Heiress Bought $82M Peak Home and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, a tycoon’s daughter is outed as the buyer of Asia’s priciest apartment, Chinese developers’ stocks and bonds tumble after Shimao Group flashes cash-crunch signals, and an Indonesian billionaire snaps up three redevelopment sites near Singapore’s Botanic Gardens.

Hong Kong Heiress Identified as Buyer of $82M Peak Home

The buyer of Asia’s most expensive flat in the ultra-luxury Mount Nicholson project on Hong Kong’s Peak is Lau Chauin, according to a source close to the deal.

Lau, the daughter of Lau Chi-keung, the chairman of Heungkong Group, which has interests ranging from logistics and finance to healthcare and property development on the mainland, bought flats 16C and 16D in phase three of the exclusive project for a combined HK$1.2 billion ($154 million) last month. Read more>>

China Developers Tumble on Shimao ‘Red Flag’

Chinese property developer shares and bonds plunged after a deal between units of Shimao Group Holdings heightened governance concerns in an industry already grappling with a liquidity squeeze.

JPMorgan Chase analysts said a connected-party acquisition announced by the developer late Monday “not only implies tight liquidity conditions for Shimao, but is also a corporate governance red flag”. The latest crisis comes as economic activity in China likely slowed in November, partly due to the worsening downturn in the property sector. Read more>>

Bukit Timah Mixed-Use Sites Sold En Bloc for S$53.9M

Three adjoining freehold redevelopment sites near Singapore’s Botanic Gardens have fetched S$53.9 million ($39.4 million) in a collective sale to Hillcrest Investments, an affiliate of Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto’s pulp, paper and palm oil giant Royal Golden Eagle.

Comprising a total of eight walk-up apartments and four ground-floor shops, the property is located at 551 to 553 Bukit Timah Road and 6 to 8 Duke’s Road, and also includes a driveway. The sites span a total land area of 16,479 square feet (1,531 square metres). Read more>>

China Home Market Slump Deepens as Prices Fall for Third Month

China’s home prices fell for a third consecutive month in November, adding to a property industry slump that’s hurting growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

New-home prices in 70 cities, excluding state-subsidised housing, declined 0.33 percent last month from October, when they fell 0.25 percent, National Bureau of Statistics figures showed Wednesday. Values in the secondary market slid 0.37 percent, down for a fourth month. Read more>>

Banks, Asset Managers Expect Operating in China, HK to Get Harder

Financial institutions see business conditions in Hong Kong and mainland China deteriorating in the coming years, though they plan to keep investing in both markets, a survey by an industry association found.

The results suggest banks and asset managers are concerned about this year’s sweeping regulatory changes associated with President Xi Jinping’s “common prosperity” policy, though rules for financial institutions have remained largely unchanged. Read more>>

Korean Property Investment Platform Kasa Raises $16B

Kasa Korea announced Tuesday that it raised KRW 19 billion ($16 million) in a Series B funding round from an investor group ahead of its entry into the Singapore market.

Kasa Korea is a real estate securities trading site that lets users buy and trade fractional ownership of buildings on a mobile app. The company issues digital asset-backed securities that represent ownership of buildings and sells them to investors. Read more>>

Hong Kong Tycoons Sacrifice Profit to Appease Beijing

One Hong Kong developer is offering half-price flats in the world’s most expensive residential market. Others have donated sprawling farmland for public housing. And the scion of a property empire says it’s time to put the city’s betterment above profits.

Two years after street demonstrations rocked Hong Kong and Chinese authorities pointed a finger of blame at sky-high home prices, the city’s tycoon developers are under pressure to help ease the local housing crisis. Asia’s pre-eminent financial hub isn’t just expensive, it’s also one of the world’s most densely populated, squeezing most of its 7.5 million dwellers into tiny flats, or worse into smaller “cage” or “coffin” homes. Read more>>

1,500 HDB Flats to Rise from Site in SG’s Alexandra Area

A brownfield site spanning 3.7 hectares (9.1 acres) bounded by Alexandra Road, Prince Charles Crescent and Alexandra Canal is being redeveloped by Singapore’s government for future public housing.

The move will potentially add about 1,500 flats to the public housing landscape, officials said Wednesday. Read more>>

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