Country Garden’s Home Sales Slump Persists and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Distressed Country Garden leads Mingtiandi’s headline roundup today as the developer’s home sales continue to slump while China Vanke’s recent growth stalls. Australia’s AirTrunk also makes the news as the operator aims to expand its data centre campus in Melbourne and shares in Hong Kong-listed Chinese property companies surge.

Country Garden’s Home Sales Slump Persists as Aid Fails to Help

Country Garden’s home sales continued to slump last month, adding to the Chinese developer’s woes as it tries to avoid liquidation.

Contracted sales dropped 73 percent to RMB 4.3 billion ($591 million) in June from a year earlier, following a 76 percent slide in May, a filing by the Guangzhou-based company showed. Read more>>

China Vanke’s Home Sales Stall as Property Picture Blurs

China Vanke’s home sales saw growth stall in June, amid signs of improvement elsewhere in China’s beleaguered housing market.

Contracted sales at the closely watched developer rose 7.9 percent from May levels to RMB 25.13 billion ($3.46 billion), the Shenzhen-based company said. That compares with a 12 percent increase a month earlier. On an annual basis, sales in June were 31 percent lower than last year, slightly worse than the previous month. Read more>>

Australia’s AirTrunk to Add 100MW to Melbourne Campus

APAC data centre operator AirTrunk is to expand its campus in Melbourne by 100 megawatts.

“I am excited to announce a huge expansion in our Melbourne West (MEL1) campus to support the growth of our customers,” AirTrunk founder and CEO Robin Khuda said on LinkedIn this week. “This expansion will include the construction of the remaining three phases of the six phases in MEL1 campus that will deliver over 100MW of new IT load.” Read more>>

China Property Firms Jump After Big Developers Show Smaller Sales Drop

Shares in Hong Kong-listed Chinese property companies surged Tuesday after private data showed yearly sales declines for major Chinese developers continuing to narrow in June.

The Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index was up 3.5 percent by noon, after jumping as much as 4.8 percent earlier in the session. Read more>>

China’s 2024 1H REIT Issuance Exceeds Last Year’s Total

China has already issued more publicly offered REITs this year than in the whole of last year.

China issued nine public REITs between 1 January and 2 July, raising nearly RMB 23.7 billion ($3.3 billion), with both the number of REITs and their proceeds being higher than the total of 2023, according to data from Wind Information. Read more>>

Singapore Official Says Govt Will Not Direct GIC to Invest in SGX-Listed Firms

Singapore will continue to find ways to improve the attractiveness of the city-state’s equity market, but it will not direct sovereign wealth fund GIC to invest in locally listed companies, said Second Minister for Finance Chee Hong Tat.

He was responding to a question in Parliament on Tuesday about whether the government would review its investment mandates with GIC and consider suggestions from some industry players to allocate part of GIC’s investments to securities listed on the Singapore Exchange. Read more>>

Singapore’s Banyan Group Mulls M&As, JVs for Expansion in Korea

Singapore-listed hospitality firm Banyan Group is considering local acquisitions or joint ventures with Korean brands to strengthen its presence in Asia’s fourth-biggest economy, the company’s CEO has said.

Banyan Group, formerly Banyan Tree Holdings, has operated one hotel, Banyan Tree Club & Spa Seoul, in South Korea since 2010. Last month it began to manage two new ones — Cassia Sokcho and Homm Marina Sokcho — in Sokcho, located by the east coast of the country. Read more>>

Bain-Owned Chindata’s Lenders Bank on Asia’s Data Centre Boom

Bain Capital-owned data centre operator Chindata Group has obtained a $490 million five-year syndicated loan from banks keen to back Asia’s growing computing and data storage needs.

The borrowing, which refinances an existing facility for the firm’s Malaysian unit, attracted seven lenders in syndication, according to people familiar with the matter. It follows a series of financings related to the artificial intelligence sector in recent months from Asia, as well as a March report that Bain was considering bringing in fresh backers to Chindata to lighten its balance sheet. Read more>>