Hang Lung Says China Local Governments Keen to Sell Land – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | September 20, 2012

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

• Hang Lung Says China Local Governments Keen to Sell Land

  Hang Lung Properties Ltd. (101), the Hong Kong developer investing $8.5 billion on the mainland, is finding local governments in China more willing to sell land, Chairman Ronnie Chan said. “It has definitely gotten easier,” Chan, whose company derives half of its rental earnings from its shopping malls in mainland China, said in an interview in Hong Kong yesterday. “The local governments want to sell more and you have developers who are eager to buy.”

• China Developers Outlook Improves as Prices Rise, S&P Says

  Chinese developers’ credit outlook improved as a recovery in home prices eased liquidity pressures and a slowing economy limited the government’s incentive to further tighten policy, Standard & Poor’s said. The credit rating company may “see some positive rating actions” in the next six months as defaults by so-called distressed developers, such as Greentown China Holdings Ltd. (3900), are less likely after asset sales, S&P said in a report yesterday.

• China says foreign investment falls for 3rd month amid global weakness

  Foreign direct investment in China declined in August for a third straight month as the impact of economic weakness in Europe and the United States worsened, the government said Wednesday. Foreign investment in factories, real estate and other assets declined 1.4 percent from a year earlier to $8.3 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said. That does not include investment in stocks and other financial assets.

• Timberland launches assault on outdoor market

  Timberland LLC, the US outdoorwear manufacturer, said it is planning an aggressive expansion of its retail network in China over the next five years, to satisfy demand in the country’s burgeoning outdoor leisure sector. Stewart Whitney, vice-president and managing director of Timberland Asia Pacific Region, said the company plans to open “40 to 50 stores in China a year”, and upgrade and expand some of its existing stores over the next five years.

• Property price rises ease in Chinese cities

  Rises in new home prices moderated broadly in Chinese cities last month, official data showed Tuesday, after authorities vowed to keep a tight grip over the once red-hot sector. Prices in 36 out of the 70 cities tracked by the government increased in August from July, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement, down from 50 the previous month. At the same time the cost of a new home in 20 cities fell in August, the bureau said, more than double the nine seen in July.

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