China is lowering borrowing costs on mortgages and easing down-payment requirements for second homes
China’s real estate slump leads today’s headline roundup, with officials pulling out all the stops to revive the beleaguered property market. Also making news, a tender for two Hong Kong office buildings ends with no deal and developer China Aoyuan gets a mysterious new investor.
China Unveils Biggest Package Yet to Boost Property Market
China unveiled its biggest package yet to shore up its beleaguered property market, lowering borrowing costs on as much as $5.3 trillion in mortgages and easing down-payment requirements for second-home purchases to a historical low.
The People’s Bank of China will cut outstanding mortgage rates for individual borrowers by an average of 0.5 percentage points, governor Pan Gongsheng said at a press conference on Tuesday. The minimum down-payment ratio on second-home purchases will be lowered to 15 percent from 25 percent. Read more>>
Tender for Gaw Capital’s Cityplaza Towers Ends Without a Deal
The deadline has passed to find buyers for stakes in two Hong Kong office buildings majority-owned by Gaw Capital Partners, according to people familiar with the matter.
The tender for Cityplaza Three and Cityplaza Four, located in the eastern Tai Koo area, closed on 20 September, according to a sales flyer seen by Bloomberg. The sales process was deemed unsuccessful because there were no bids for the properties, including from Gaw, which had earlier planned to put in a bid, said the people who asked not to be identified speaking about private matters. Read more>>
China Aoyuan Reveals Takeover by Mysterious UAE Investor
Shares of China Aoyuan Group surged after founder Guo Zi Wen trimmed his controlling stake and a “strategic investor” from the Middle East emerged as the single largest shareholder of the cash-strapped developer.
The stock rose 127 percent to HK$0.27 in Hong Kong on Monday, enriching its shareholders by HK$548 million ($70.4 million) and bringing its advance this year to 35 percent. The broader market weakened, as the Hang Seng Index slipped 0.1 percent after earlier hitting a three-month high. Read more>>
KKR, Blackstone See Big Potential in Japan Market
Top executives at KKR and Blackstone say private equity is in its infancy in Japan and there’s ample room for buyout firms to grow.
“Japan is a must-own country today for investors,” KKR co-CEO Joe Bae said Monday at a Bloomberg panel discussion with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The country is the biggest destination for KKR’s capital after the US, Bae said. Read more>>
Sino-Ocean Gets Reprieve on Liquidation Hearing
Chinese developer Sino-Ocean Group received an additional reprieve of three months on its liquidation hearing on Monday after it outlined a plan for parallel restructuring efforts in Hong Kong and the UK.
Hong Kong justice Linda Chan adjourned the hearing until 23 December, saying that the developer had “made some progress” on its restructuring. Read more>>
Ascott Boosts Southeast Asia Portfolio With 28 Deals in 2024
The Ascott Ltd, CapitaLand Investment’s wholly owned lodging unit, announced that it has secured 28 new signings year-to-date in Southeast Asia, accounting for over half of Ascott’s global signings in the same period.
Seven of the newly signed properties are under Oakwood and will open in Cambodia and Singapore, as well as across cities in Indonesia. The remaining signings are through other brands including Somerset, Citadines, The Unlimited Collection and Lyf. Read more>>
Mapletree Logistics Trust Completes Sale of Malaysia Facility
The manager of Mapletree Logistics Trust has announced the completion of the divestment of Flexhub in Malaysia.
On 10 November 2023, the REIT announced that it had entered a sale and purchase agreement for the divestment of Flexhub and Padi in Malaysia at a total sale price of MYR 151.2 million ($43.8 million). Flexhub is in Senai, Johor, with a total net lettable area of 63,175 square metres (680,010 square feet). The property comprises a single-storey industrial building with annexed office space. Read more>>
China Cuts Bank Reserve Requirement to Lift Economy
China will cut the amount of cash banks need to have on hand, known as the reserve requirement ratio, by 50 basis points, People’s Bank of China governor Pan Gongsheng said at a Tuesday press conference.
Pan, who was speaking to reporters alongside two other financial regulator heads, did not indicate exactly when the central bank would ease the policy but said it would be in the near term. Read more>>
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