Singapore Dethrones Hong Kong as Finance Hub and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, Singapore leaps three spots to third place in a ranking of global financial centres, superseding No.4 Hong Kong for tops in Asia. Meanwhile, Hong Kong takes a step towards rectifying its troubles, announcing an end to its mandatory hotel quarantine policy.

Singapore Overtakes Hong Kong as Asia’s Top Financial Centre: Report

Singapore has overtaken Hong Kong to become Asia’s top financial centre — and the third in the world after moving up three places — according to a new report that puts New York and London in the first and second spots.

Hong Kong slipped to fourth place, battered by strict COVID-19 restrictions and an exodus of talent, while San Francisco moved up two spots to round out the Global Financial Centres Index’s top five. Read more>>

Hong Kong to Axe COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Requirement for Arrivals

Hong Kong will scrap the hotel quarantine requirement for inbound travellers from next Monday, marking the end to a COVID-19 policy blamed for undermining the city’s international status.

Inbound travellers will be subject to a “0+3” arrangement, Chief Executive John Lee said at a press conference on Friday. Under the new arrangement, arrivals will no longer be required to isolate in a designated quarantine hotel. Instead, inbound travellers can choose to undergo three days of “medical surveillance” at home or at a hotel, during which they will be allowed to go out, subject to PCR requirements. Read home>>

First-Home Buyers Swoop on Sun Hung Kai’s Wetland Flats

Hong Kong’s homebuyers swooped in on the weekday sale of a popular property project on Thursday, as they exploited a slim window before the city’s first increases in mortgage rates take effect.

Sun Hung Kai Properties sold all 80 flats on offer in the third phase of its Wetland Seasons Bay project in Tin Shui Wai, agents said. As many as 23 bidders went after each available unit, with 1,870 registrations of intent received. Read more>>

Agency Says HK Property Market to Fall by Further 10%

The chairman of a Hong Kong real estate agency says he thinks the property market could fall by a further 10 percent this year, after five major banks in the territory raised their interest rates for the first time in four years.

“If you look at the market large, you’ve seen something more of the order of 5 percent for the first seven months of this year,” said Nicholas Brooke of Professional Property Services. “We could be looking at another 10 percent by the year-end.” Read more>>

China Vanke Unit Guiding IPO Shares at HK$49.35 Each

Onewo, the property management unit of developer China Vanke, is telling prospective investors it plans to price its Hong Kong IPO near the midpoint of its marketed range, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Shenzhen-based firm is poised to price the offering at HK$49.35 per share, the person said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. At that price, it would raise about HK$5.8 billion ($739 million). The firm is offering 116.7 million shares at HK$47.10 to HK$52.70 each. Read more>>

How HK Homebuyers’ Purchasing Power Fell HK$1M Since January

Owning a home in Hong Kong seems to get tougher by the day. While potential homebuyers might have lost HK$1 million ($127,390) in buying power so far this year, homeowners will see their mortgage payments go up after banks in the city raised their prime rates from Friday.

Hongkongers with a monthly budget of HK$17,000 for a mortgage could borrow HK$5 million at 1.45 percent annually from a bank and buy a home priced at HK$5.5 million in January, according to mReferral, a local mortgage broker. Fast forward to Friday, potential buyers with the same budget can only borrow about HK$4 million and buy a home worth HK$4.4 million. Read more>>

Swire’s Miami Supertall Office Tower Wins Approval

Miami city commissioners voted unanimously on Thursday to approve the expanded floorplates needed to build the 1,049 foot (320 metre) One Brickell City Centre.

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross’s Related Companies is partnering with Hong Kong-based Swire Properties to develop the 80-storey tower, which will have the largest floorplates ever in the Florida city. Read more>>

SoftBank Cuts Valuation of IPO-Bound Oyo Hotels to $2.7B

SoftBank has slashed the valuation of Oyo Hotels on its books by more than 20 percent as the once high-flying Indian startup prepares for an initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said.

The Japanese investor, the largest shareholder in the hotel booking firm, cut its estimated value for Oyo to $2.7 billion in the June quarter from an earlier $3.4 billion after benchmarking it against peers with similar operations, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing private information. The lodging firm had reached a valuation of $10 billion in a 2019 funding round. Read more>>

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