Mitsui Fudosan Takes 90% Stake in $3.8B Hudson Yards Tower and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

The Japanese are buying up New York again, or at least they’re taking a stake in Related’s $18 billion Hudson Yards project. Also in the news today, more than 1,000 customers showed up to make an offer on a HK$6 billion apartment in Hong Kong’s New Territories and a Singaporean investor is putting another $12 million into a Myanmar project. Read on for all these stories and more.

Mitsui Fudosan Takes 90% Stake in $3.8B Hudson Yards Tower

The developer of the Hudson Yards complex on Manhattan’s West Side has hit another milestone with a financing package for its flagship office building that will increase the money it has raised for the first phase of the sprawling project to more than $18 billion.

A venture led by Related Cos. has closed a $1.5 billion construction loan for 50 Hudson Yards from a group of banks from Asia, Europe and the U.S. The rest of the money for the $3.8 billion tower—the largest in the complex – is being provided by Related and its partners on 50 Hudson, Oxford Properties Group and Mitsui Fudosan America Inc., Related said. Read more>>

1,000 Buyers Compete for Single Apartment in Hong Kong

The odds were stacked against them, at more than 300 to 1. But in a property market as hot as Hong Kong’s that wasn’t enough to stop some 1,300 home seekers queuing for a chance to get their hands on just four flats in Parc City, Tsuen Wan.

And according to estate agents, about 1,000 of them were after just one small unit. Read more>>

Hong Kong Bankers Move into Co-Living as Home Rental Rates Rise

Young finance industry workers are bunking down in dormitory-style accommodation in Hong Kong as “co-living” developments take off in the world’s priciest city for property.

An investment banker and a bank intern are among those renting rooms in an upmarket development called Mini Ocean Park Station on the south side of Hong Kong island, said marketing manager Cynthia Cheung. Read more>>

Singapore Developer Invests $12M More in Yangon Golden City Project

Catalist-listed Emerging Towns & Cities Singapore (ETC Singapore) has agreed to take up an additional 17 per cent stake in Uni Global Power, lifting its total interest to 87 per cent.

ETC Singapore, formerly known as China Titanium and later Cedar Strategic Holdings, will fund the US$11.9 million (S$16.1 million) purchase via the issuance of 179 million new shares at 9 Singapore cents a share. Read more>>

Beijing Stops Developers From Building Fences Around Subsidized Housing

A social housing policy which is literally tearing down barriers between Beijing’s haves and have-nots is causing outrage among the city’s well-heeled residents.

The rule, which bars property developers from building walls and fences that segregate a community, is forcing some of the city’s wealthy homeowners to share their facilities and outdoor spaces with their less affluent neighbours. Read more>>

Shanghai Arrests Condo Sales Agents for Taking RMB 5M in Kickbacks

Shanghai police have arrested three real estate salesmen who confessed to accepted bribes totalling 5 million yuan (US$765,000), by holding back supplies of new flats for favoured bidders, in the latest example of a nationwide clampdown by the government on property malpractices to curb the overheated market.

The three, including a sales director representing a residential project in Fengxian District, Shanghai confessed to telling buyers all the units at the site they were promoting were sold, while extorted 100,000 to 200,000 yuan (US$15,300-30,600) from individuals privately in exchange for accepting their offers, China’s state-run CCTV reported, without naming the project. Read more>>

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