Singapore Office Rents May Dip 5% in 2021 and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, Knight Frank issues a bearish forecast for Singapore office rents, official figures show a cooling China housing market, and Hong Kong’s first major property launch of the year draws a horde of eager buyers.

Singapore Office Rents May Dip 5% This Year on WFH Trend

Property consultancy Knight Frank is expecting office rents in Singapore to fall by around 5 percent in 2021 before bottoming out and recovering in the following year, barring new strains of the COVID-19 virus and consequent lockdowns.

This comes amid a projected 5.3 million square feet of new supply islandwide from Q4 2020 to 2023, with central business district occupancy for the period estimated to hit 94.1 percent and overall prime office rents to average S$10.16 ($7.62) per square foot per month. Read more>>

China New Home Prices Flat as Tightening Measures Cool Market

China’s new homes prices grew moderately in December, official data showed on Friday, as government measures aimed at cooling the property market took their toll.

Average new home prices in 70 major cities rose 0.1 percent month-on-month in December, according to Reuters calculations of data from the National Bureau of Statistics. The pace of growth was unchanged from November. Read more>>

Wheelock Sells Out Latest Tranche of Kai Tak Homes in Six Hours

The first major property launch of 2021 in Hong Kong set a promising bar for the year ahead, as hundreds of homebuyers jostled to snap up flats at Wheelock Properties’ new Monaco project in Kai Tak.

Wheelock collected about HK$1.6 billion ($206.45 million) by selling all 145 units available on Sunday, less than six hours after sales began, a spokeswoman said. All flats were sold because of relatively low prices and the project’s good location. Read more>>

Boustead Projects Bags S$130M Green Loan From UOB

SGX-listed real estate player Boustead Projects on Monday said it had obtained its first green loan of about S$130 million ($97.5 million) from UOB to refinance [email protected], a smart eco-sustainable business park development.

The loan was extended to BP-Dojo LLP, Boustead Projects’ joint venture special purpose vehicle under the Boustead Development Partnership (BDP), a co-investment partnership between Boustead Projects and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council. Read more>>

Singapore’s Oxley Buys $40M in Notes From Subsidiary 

Oxley Holdings has purchased $38.8 million in notes with a coupon of 6.375 percent due 2021 and $1.25 million in notes with a coupon of 6.5 percent due 2023 issued by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Oxley MTN, under its $1 billion guaranteed euro medium-term note programme established on 7 April 2017.

The notes were purchased at a consideration of $37.9 million and $1.06 million respectively. Read more>>

Far East Consortium Sells More than 60% of Manchester Homes

Property developer Far East Consortium has sold more than 60 percent of homes at its New Cross Central development in Manchester.

Named after its location at the heart of the evolving New Cross neighbourhood and designed by award-winning architects Hawkins\Brown, New Cross Central will offer nine three-bed townhouses on the ground floor and 71 one- and two-bed apartments, including rooftop apartments with private, stepped terraces, a shared central courtyard with seating and planting, plus secure cycle storage for each property. Read more>>

Hong Kong Retail Sector Warns That Cuts to Mall Hours Will Kill Jobs

Hong Kong’s battered retail sector has reacted with fury after the government revealed it was considering cutting shopping centre business hours to tackle the COVID-19 crisis.

The Institute of Shopping Centre Management, an industry alliance of about 3,000 retailers, catering firms and mall operators, on Thursday said it strongly opposed the plan and warned that the measure would spark a wave of shutdowns and put 450,000 jobs at risk if it materialised. Read more>>

Chinese Property Developers Have Huge Debts to Refinance

China’s property developers have a mountain of international debt to refinance this year, and tight lending conditions are raising the risk of defaults.

The real-estate firms need to repay up to $53.5 billion of offshore debt this year, a sharp increase from the $25.4 billion that came due in 2020, according to CreditSights, a bond-research firm. The bulk of the debt — $47.6 billion — is dollar bonds. The CreditSights figures include maturing bonds and a smaller sum of puttable debt, which has a longer maturity but which investors have the right to sell back during 2021. Read more>>

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