SG’s Ho Bee Land Buys London Building for £129M and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Britain’s political tumult continues to create opportunities for Asian investors this week as a London acquisition by a Singapore-listed developer leads our roundup of today’s hottest headlines. The Lion City also features in the news as an unnamed developer makes a S$1.1 bid for a commercial site on the island’s east coast, while up in Hong Kong the city’s financial chief warns of risks from a frothy property market. Read on for all these stories and more.

Ho Bee Land Buys London Office Building for £129M

A unit of mainboard-listed Ho Bee Land has acquired a central London office building for £129.3 million (S$228 million). The unit, Stream Field Investments, bought over Emmatown Properties, which owns the freehold, office building at 67 Lombard Street, Ho Bee said in a statement on Tuesday (June 20).

The location of the building, which is about 100m away from the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange, benefits from excellent transport links with convenient access to the rest of central London, commuter destinations and London’s airports. Read more>>

Site on SG’s Beach Road Gets S$1.1B Bid to Trigger Tender

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has accepted an application from a developer to put up the commercial site at Beach Road for sale by public tender.

The two-hectare land parcel was first made available for sale on the Reserve List in November 2014. The developer committed to bid at a price of not less than S$1.13 billion in the tender for the land parcel, a commitment acceptable to the Government, the URA said in a release on Wednesday (June 21). Read more>>

HK Finance Chief Warns of “Dangerous Situation” for Property Market

Hong Kong’s property market is in a dangerous situation and vulnerable to a correction, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said in an interview.

The warning comes as rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve send borrowing costs higher in Hong Kong, given the city imports U.S. monetary policy due to its currency peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority last week boosted borrowing costs by 25 basis points to 1.5 percent after the Fed raised its target range by the same amount. Read more>>

Ranks of China’s Wealthy Rose 9x in 10 Years Says Bain

The number of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in China has risen nearly 9 times since a decade ago, a private survey released on Tuesday showed, as strong growth in the world’s second-largest economy has spurred wealth creation.

Chinese with at least 10 million yuan (1.2 million pounds) of investable assets hit 1.6 million in 2016, up from 180,000 in 2006, according to the 2017 China Private Wealth Report by Bain Consulting and China Merchants Bank. Read more>>

Pony Ma to Push Vision of Silicon Valley Along Hong Kong-Shenzhen Border

One of China’s most prominent internet tycoons is wading into a famously contentious political arena.

In an unusual move, Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s billionaire founder Pony Ma has chosen to convene a summit of government officials and business chieftains in Hong Kong days before the 20th anniversary of its return to China. The head of the country’s biggest corporation wants to fire up a debate about an issue that’s fomented protests and fears about Beijing’s agenda: how to entwine the self-run former British colony with the mainland. Read more>>

Car Parks Outperform Houses in Hong Kong’s Crazy Property Market

Prices for Hong Kong car parks have outperformed the housing market over the last dozen years, amid shrinking supply and a buoyant market ready to bid up real estate themes in the era of ultra low interest rates.

“Strong demand and rising investment interest will continue to boost prices for car parking spaces,” said Dorothy Chow, a regional director of valuation advisory services at JLL. Read more>>

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