Beijing is taking its strongest measures yet to revive the housing market
Mainland China’s property crisis leads Mingtiandi’s headline roundup again today with Beijing rolling out a raft of measures to revive the market at the same time that new statistics show home prices dropping for an 11th straight month. Also making the list is a new student housing project in Hong Kong and Country Garden gets a reprieve in a winding up case.
China Lowers Down-Payments, Pushes Government Homebuying to Revive Market
China announced its most forceful attempt yet to shore up the beleaguered property market, easing mortgage rules and encouraging local governments to buy unsold homes from developers for conversion into affordable housing.
The People’s Bank of China effectively scrapped the nationwide minimum mortgage interest rate while cutting the minimum down-payment ratio to 15% for first-time buyers and 25% for second homes, according to a statement on Friday. The previous ratios stood at 20% and 30%, respectively. Read more>>
China Home Prices Fall for 11th Straight Month
A slide in home prices in mainland China deepened in April, a government report showed, underscoring the erosion of confidence among consumers and galvanising officials in Beijing into fresh actions to end a three-year crisis and rescue beleaguered developers.
Prices for new homes in first-tier cities fell 0.6 per cent from March to cap an 11th straight month of decline, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday. Sixty-four of the 70 medium and large cities recorded declines, the statistics bureau said, rising from 57 in March. Read more>>
Centurion Student Housing JV Expands in Hong Kong
A joint venture of Centurion Corporation has leased 15 floors of a building in Hong Kong from Golden Well Development, with the intention of using the space for student accommodation, the dormitory operator said on Thursday (May 16).
The property is expected to be operational in September this year, with a total capacity of 89 beds to house students. It is located in Kowloon, Hong Kong, within walking distance of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Hong Kong Metropolitan University, said Centurion in a bourse filing. Read more>>
Country Garden Liquidation Hearing Adjourned Until 11 June in Hong Kong
A Hong Kong court adjourned to June 11 a hearing of a petition on Friday seeking liquidation of Country Garden, providing a breather to the embattled Chinese developer amid Beijing’s efforts to revive the crisis-hit property sector.
A Hong Kong firm filed the petition against Country Garden in February for non-payment of a $205 million loan. The developer defaulted on $11 billion of offshore bonds last year and is in the process of an offshore debt restructuring. Read more>>
Ping An Said Exploring Sell-Down of $13B HSBC Stake
Ping An Insurance Group is weighing options that would allow it to reduce its 8 per cent stake in HSBC Holdings, according to people familiar with the matter.
One option an internal team at the Chinese insurance giant is considering is further share sales, similar to the US$50 million sale it disclosed last week, as it seeks to reduce its US$13.3 billion position in Europe’s largest lender, the people said, declining to be identified as the deliberations are private. Read more>>
UPS Hires Goldman Sachs AM to Manage $14B in Pension Funds
U.S. parcel delivery giant UPS has enlisted the asset management arm of Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs to manage its $43.4 billion pension fund assets in the United States and Canada, the investment bank said on Thursday.
The deal underscores the growing significance of the asset management business as Goldman looks to reduce its dependence on the volatile trading and investment banking. The in-house investment management team of UPS will join Goldman Sachs’ Atlanta office and continue to provide services to the pension plans. Read more>>
New World Ties Up with Mainland SOE to Develop Tech Zone in Northern Hong Kong
New World Development (NWD) and Shum Yip Group, a Chinese state-owned enterprise, agreed to jointly explore and develop the innovation and technology zone in the Northern Metropolis.
NWD and Shum Yip would leverage their resources and development experiences to develop landmark projects for industry collaboration in the Greater Bay Area after signing a strategic partnership agreement. They would establish a working group to seek partnership opportunities across all other areas, including real estate projects. Read more>>
Singapore’s Punggol Digital District Set to Open in Q3 at 65% Occupancy
Punggol Digital District, a massive new business park campus coming up in northeastern Singapore, will open progressively from the third quarter of the year, with some 65 percent of space in eight towers pre-committed.
Billed as Singapore’s first smart and sustainable business district, the development will provide an ecosystem for key growth sectors in Singapore’s digital economy such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and robotics, fintech and smart living. Read more>>
Tune in again soon for more real estate news and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on X, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.
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