China property investment tops Asia Pacific – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | May 8, 2013

Here is a list of the day’s latest China real estate news collected from around the web:

• China property investment tops Asia Pacific

  China overtook Japan to become Asia Pacific’s biggest real estate investment market last year, after a 15 percent growth in investments from 2011, a research note by international real estate firm DTZ Research said on Monday.

  With an overall 8 percent increase in 2012, Asia Pacific was the only region globally to post growth in the value of invested real estate stock, the research showed.

  Asia Pacific’s strong performance was driven by emerging markets.

• Report: Rich Chinese investing abroad to protect wealth

  China’s richest people are stepping up investment in U.S. real estate and other foreign assets as they try to preserve their fortunes in the face of a fast-changing economy, a report said Tuesday.

  The report by China Merchants Bank and the consulting firm Bain & Co. in China reflects uncertainties about abrupt shifts in an economy in which growth slowed last year to 7.8 percent from the past decade’s double-digit rates.

• Banks Buying Hong Kong Towers as Rents Fail to Ease

  Seeking to hedge against rising rents and a shortage of space, banks and insurers are on a record spree of buying office buildings in Hong Kong, where occupancy costs are the second-highest in the world.

  Manulife Financial Corp., Canada’s biggest insurer, and Hang Seng Bank Ltd. this year bought office towers in the city, joining financial firms such as AIA Group Ltd. and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.

• Philippine luxury properties lure China, HK investors

  Properties in the Philippines are still considered undervalued compared to that of other Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia and Thailand.

  Thus, of late Philippine real estate had drawn more property buyers from China and Hong Kong, who would want to capitalise on this considerable scope for capital growth, notes property developer Mr. Marco Biggiogero, who invested in a new residential resort development in Boracay Island, 345 kilometres, south of Manila.

• Greentown dim sum bond cuts through US dollar paper

  Greentown China Holdings has ridden the wave of demand for Chinese property high-yield paper to complete a Rmb2.5bn (US$397m) three-year debut at 5.625%, the low-end of the final guidance of 5.75% (plus/minus 12.5bp).

  The final pricing represented a 37.5bp revision from the initial talk of 6% area, despite the large size of the offering.

  Assuming mid swaps, the final pricing was equivalent to around Libor plus 425bp.

This list is updated daily, so tune in again tomorrow for more up to date information.