Shimao Shares Slide 67% as Trading Resumes and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

More trouble for China’s housing giants leads today’s collection of real estate headlines from around the region, as Shimao is punished on the HKEX as two of its competitors are downgraded by Moody’s. Also making the list is some upside for CapitaLand’s lodging REIT and a settlement between Dalian Wanda and China Vanke.

Shimao Shares Slide 67% After Declaring $6.8B Loss Over Two Years

Shimao Group Holdings Ltd. slumped by the most ever as trading resumed following a 16-month halt and the defaulted Chinese developer disclosing steep losses the past two years in long-delayed results, underscoring the sector’s lingering financial stress.

Shares plunged as much as 67% in Hong Kong. They had last traded on March 31 of last year, before Shimao failed to publish unaudited 2021 results. During the trading halt, a Bloomberg Intelligence gauge of the sector dropped 32%. Shimao’s market value, which peaked in 2020 at $17 billion, has shrunk to $725 million. Read more>>

CapitaLand Ascott Trust Looks Foward to a Brighter Second Half

The manager of CapitaLand Ascott Trust sees upside for its portfolio in the second half, after delivering a “strong” set of results in the first half ended Jun 30. Serena Teo, chief executive of the manager, said at a results briefing on Friday (Jul 28) that indicators for the second half look positive on a sequential basis, and when considered against H2 2022.

“Demand for accommodation from various leading indicators, as well as what we see, continues to be strong,” she said. “We expect upside in the second half, whether it’s from seasonal demand, (or) contributions from new assets.” Read more>>

Moody’s Cuts Ratings for China’s Greenland, Sino-Ocean

Moody’s cut the credit ratings of state-backed Chinese property developers Greenland Holdings and Sino-Ocean on Friday (Jul 28) after the former missed a bond payment last month and the latter made a last-minute bid this week to try and stave off default.

The rating agency downgraded Greenland’s corporate family rating (CFR) to Ca – a level that signals imminent default – and cut Sino-Ocean’s CFR to an almost as risky Caa2 from Caa1. It also kept ‘negative’ outlooks on both companies. Read more>>

Dalian Wanda Settles Dispute with China Vanke

Chinese property developers Dalian Wanda Group and Vanke have reached a settlement over a dispute related to a mega-project in the northern part of the country, a Wanda company official said on Friday.

The official confirmed a China Securities Journal report, which also said court orders to freeze Wanda’s 1.9 billion yuan ($265.52 million) worth of shares in its property manager unit would be withdrawn when Vanke, which had applied for the freeze, asks for it to be removed. Read more>>

China Seeks to Lower Mortgage Rates, Cut Down Payments

China is planning to guide mortgage financing rates lower and reduce down payment ratios in the housing market in a bid to encourage more residents to make their first home purchases and help revive the ailing industry.

Ni Hong, Minister of Housing and Urban-rural Development, told representatives of developers at a government conference on Thursday that more loosening measures would be implemented to spur a market recovery, given its importance and contribution to the nation’s economy. Read more>>

Evergrande Wind-Up Hearing Pushed Back to 30 October

The hearing for a winding-up petition against China Evergrande Group (3333.HK) has been adjourned to Oct. 30 from July 31, a Hong Kong court diary showed.

The adjournment was initiated by the petitioner in order to wait for the result from Evergrande’s meeting with creditors on Aug. 23 to vote on its offshore debt restructuring plan, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. Evergrande and Top Shine Global Ltd, the petitioner, declined to comment. Read more>>

Singapore Resale Condo Price Growth Slows as Volume Dropped in June

The price growth of resale condominiums slowed in June – mainly due to a drop in prices in the prime segment – as fewer units were sold overall on the back of property cooling measures.

Condominium resale prices inched up for the fifth straight month in June, rising at a slower rate of 0.1 per cent compared with May’s 0.9 per cent, according to flash figures from real estate portals 99.co and SRX released on Friday. Read more>>

China Mortage Volume Wanes as Market Slows

China’s home market has continued to contract, with the total amount of money lent out to buy homes shrinking from a year earlier for the first time on record.

The outstanding amount of individual mortgages fell to 38.6 trillion yuan ($5.4 trillion) at the end of June, down 260 billion yuan from the same period a year earlier, according to data from the People’s Bank of China released Friday. That’s the first year-on-year drop in the data going back to 2011. Read more>>

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