Shimao boss Xu Rongmao is getting more attention than he wants in 2022
In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, Shimao Group reportedly plans to repay an onshore bond coming due this weekend, Hong Kong’s Far East Consortium adds to its residential land holdings in the north of England, and China’s local government revenue from land sales dives as Beijing calls for more spending to prime the economic pump.
Shimao Plans to Repay Onshore Bond After Cash Inflow
Shimao Group Holdings is set to repay a local bond maturing Saturday after the embattled Chinese developer received higher-than-anticipated cash inflows from property sales in December, according to people familiar with the matter.
Onshore subsidiary Shanghai Shimao has set aside funds to repay the 4.65 percent local bond with outstanding principal of RMB 1.9 billion ($300 million), said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The company plans to wire money ahead of the due date, the people said. Read more>>
China Minsheng Bank Lent Billions to China Evergrande
It was once hailed as the future of Chinese banking, a privately run lender that would mint money by outmanoeuvring its state-owned rivals.
An ill-fated push into property lending has instead turned China Minsheng Banking Corp into one of the biggest casualties of the real estate debt crisis roiling Asia’s largest economy. Read more>>
Far East Consortium Snaps Up Manchester Site
Far East Consortium, the Hong Kong-listed developer behind Manchester’s Victoria North regeneration project, has snapped up a 2 acre (0.8 hectare) site to form part of its Red Bank neighbourhood.
The land on Dantzic Street is part of the strategic regeneration framework for Victoria North, which will deliver 15,000 new homes in Manchester’s city centre over the next decade. Read more>>
China Local Land Sales Fall Just as Beijing Calls for Spending
Most Chinese local governments saw revenue from land sales fall in 2021, damaging their budgets just as Beijing calls for faster spending to counteract a housing-market slowdown and pull the economy out of a downturn.
Thirteen of China’s 31 provinces saw income from selling land-use rights drop more than 20 percent in 2021 from a year earlier, Tianfeng Securities analysts wrote in a note Wednesday. That includes Xinjiang, Heilongjiang and the other two provinces in the northeast, and Shanxi in the north. Read more>>
Hong Kong’s Lam Sets Out Years-Long Agenda as Term Nears End
Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam on Wednesday laid out a long-term vision to answer Beijing’s call to fix the world’s most expensive housing market, entrenching herself in policies that would run far beyond her current term.
Lam put housing front and centre at the opening session of the city’s “patriots only” legislature, which Beijing loyalists formed last month after attempting to blame the pro-democracy opposition with obstructing policy reforms. Read more>>
M&A of Chinese Property Management Firms Poised to Jump
The property management units of struggling Chinese developers will engage in more mergers and acquisitions to generate much-needed cash this year, analysts forecast.
Meanwhile, their healthier peers are poised to tap capital markets to raise the funds to buy some of their offloaded assets. Read more>>
Singapore’s New Private Home Sales Fell 58% in December
New private home sales in Singapore slumped during the final month of 2021, as a double whammy of year-end festivities and fresh property cooling measures weighed on transaction volumes.
Based on caveats lodged, analysts estimated that property developers sold 643 residential units, excluding executive condominiums, in December. Read more>>
Singapore Property Auctions Likely to Gain Pace as Rates Rise
More properties in Singapore could go under the hammer this year amid rising interest rates and the expiry of relief measures for borrowers.
Figures from Knight Frank showed that the property auction market was active in 2021 with a total of 670 listings — including repeat listings but excluding properties sold outside of auction — up 35.4 percent from 2020’s tally. Read more>>
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