Not even the biggest signs will attract guests to Oyo hotels amid the COVID-19 pandemic
A Softbank-backed hotel company leads the way in Mingtiandi’s roundup of Asia real estate headlines today with the news that the budget accommodation chain has furloughed thousands of staff.
In other news around the region, sliding home rents in one Asian financial hub are making landlords worry about mortgage repayments, while the co-founder of a co-working giant is said to have cashed in $361 million in shares before the company’s botched IPO. Elsewhere, hotel occupancy in Japan has hit its lowest level on record.
Oyo Furloughs Thousands as Operations Freeze
Just nine months ago, Masayoshi Son publicly declared Ritesh Agarwal one of the star entrepreneurs backed by his SoftBank Group. The Japanese billionaire boasted that Agarwal’s Oyo Hotels & Homes was poised to overtake the biggest hotel chains in the world just a few years after its founding.
Today, Oyo is freezing operations around the world and furloughing thousands of employees as it struggles to survive the coronavirus pandemic. Read more>>
Neumann Cashed in WeWork Shares Before IPO
WeWork co-founder and ousted CEO Adam Neumann unloaded $361 million worth of shares when Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank first invested in the company in 2017.
And he wasn’t the only one. Benchmark, which was WeWork’s first major investor, also cashed out at the time. Read more>>
March Hotel Occupancy Rate in Japan Lowest on Record
Japan’s hotel occupancy rate tumbled to 30.5 percent in March, according to preliminary data from global hotel research firm STR, the worst monthly average in the latter’s records as the coronavirus pandemic slashed numbers of people travelling.
The survey provides the first snapshot of the impact of the virus on Japan’s hotel industry. Read more>>
HK Landlords May Struggle to Cover Mortgage Payments as Home Rents Slide
Some investors who bought property in Hong Kong during a mid-2019 peak in prices might not even recover their monthly mortgage payments, as rents continue their headlong dive, industry experts said.
Average rents have fallen in Hong Kong for eight consecutive months now – a decline totalling 10.6 percent up until last month. Of this, a decline of 4.2 percent was recorded over just the past two months, during the COVID-19 outbreak, according to data from Centaline Property Agency. Read more>>
IHG to Open First New Hotel in China Since Outbreak
While coronavirus may have temporarily dampened the world’s appetite for travel, IHG is forging ahead with its planned expansion of the Regent hotel brand.
IHG signed a management agreement with Shanghai 21st Century Hotel Co. for what will become the Regent Shanghai Pudong. Read more>>
First REIT Extends Closure of Indonesian Malls
First REIT is keeping two of its malls in Indonesia closed for another two weeks – till April 28 – as the country looks to curb movement further amid surging Covid-19 cases.
The two malls – Lippo Plaza Kupang and Lippo Plaza Buton – were initially to have been closed only from April 1 to April 14, although certain essential services such as supermarkets, pharmacies and clinics have stayed open. Read more>>
Singapore Condo Resale Volume up 17% in March
The number of Singapore condominium units resold in March increased 17 percent to 709 units from 606 units in February, according to flash estimates from real estate portal SRX Property.
However, the resale volume was 13 percent lower versus a year ago and down 21 percent from the five-year average volume for the month of March. Read more>>
Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.
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