A luxury development leads the way in Mingtiandi’s roundup of real estate headlines today with the news that a developer founded by tycoon Li Ka-shing has postponed planned sales launch at a luxury condominium project in Hong Kong worth a combined $1.5 billion, citing the current social atmosphere as its rationale.
In other news around the region, Mingtiandi provides some insight into mainland China developers dabbling in the entertainment business, while second-quarter net income at an India REIT is up 19 percent, and Softbank eyes student housing investment in India.
Elsewhere, a mainland developer’s profit for the first half of the year doubles, and a Trump project in Indonesia has cancelled financing from China.
CK Asset Delays $1.5B Hong Kong Home Sales Launch
CK Asset Holdings, the developer founded by billionaire Li Ka-shing, postponed a planned sale of condominiums in Hong Kong as ongoing political protests made it difficult to market the luxury residences.
The homes at 21 Borrett Road would not be offered for sale as scheduled this month, a spokeswoman for the company said Wednesday, confirming an earlier report on RTHK radio. Marketing a luxury project would be difficult under the current social atmosphere and there is no fixed schedule for the sale, CK Asset Executive Director Justin Chiu told RTHK. Read more>>
Can Sunac’s Entertainment Unit Succeed Where Wanda Flopped?
At the height of the Chinese film industry’s hot money years, no one could compete with Wang Jianlin for flashy boasts. The Dalian Wanda chairman pledged to buy stakes in all six Hollywood major studios and threatened to unleash a “wolf pack” of Chinese theme parks that would devour Shanghai Disneyland.
In 2013, he promised to spend $8 billion to turn a podunk coastal stretch of the city of Qingdao into a “Hollywood of the East,” shelling out a reported $22 million on a launch event that flew in Leonardo DiCaprio, Catherine Zeta-Jones and other stars. Read more>>
Embassy REIT Q2 Net Income Up 19%
Embassy Office Parks REIT, India’s first listed real estate investment trust, posted a 19 percent increase in revenue from operations for the quarter through June, driven by strong leasing momentum across its portfolio that is the largest in Asia by area.
The REIT posted revenue from operations of INR 5.4 billion ($75 million) for the quarter, compared with INR 4.5 billion a year earlier. Net operating income (NOI) also increased 19 percent to INR 4.5 billion, while the NOI margin for the quarter was 85 percent. Read more>>
Softbank Plans Oyo Student Housing Investment in India
Japan’s Softbank Group on Tuesday evinced interest to invest in Punjab’s real estate sector, with focus on student housing through OYO startup. Indian hotel start-up OYO is backed by the SoftBank Group.
A high-level delegation of the group, led by its MD Hiroki Kimoto, called on Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh here, who extended his government’s full support in the realisation of Softbank”s investment plans in the state. Read more>>
Poly Real Estate H1 Profit Up 53%
Poly Developments and Holdings Group, also known as Poly Real Estate, reported annual 53 percent growth in net profit in the first half of 2019 on rising sales and profit margin.
Net profit reached RMB 9.96 billion ($1.4 billion) in the six-month period, the leading real estate developer said in its interim report filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Read more>>
Hong Kong Malls Under Fire from Mainlanders
Hong Kong shopping centres are under fire on Chinese social media over their treatment of the city’s police during the ongoing unrest, driving developers to appease high-spending mainlanders with apologetic statements.
On Monday, in a statement to mainland newspaper Global Times, New World Development apologised for a “misunderstanding” over a previous apology it had issued to Hong Kong protesters for allowing riot police to use the public toilets at its D Park shopping centre on Saturday. Read more>>
Trump Jakarta Project Says No Way to Chinese Financing
The Trump Organisation has not profited from its namesake’s position as leader of the free world and a decision to drop Chinese financing from an Indonesian theme park featuring a Trump hotel has absolutely nothing to do with the US-China trade war.
That is according to Donald Trump Jnr, who was in Jakarta on Tuesday to attend a pre-launch event for two real estate projects marking the US developer’s first foray into Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Read more>>
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