December Asia Property Market Snapshots
December, 2015
Hong Kong
According to government Land Registry data release on December 4th, Hong Kong residential property sales, indicated by the number of Sales and Purchase Agreements (S&Ps), declined by more than 11 percent from 3,300 in October to 2,826 in November, lowest monthly record since 1996. The S&Ps was 4,263 and 3,896 in September and August respectively. (December 6th)
Hong Kong
China
HK Property developer New World Development through its subsidiary New World China Land (NWCL) is selling its three property projects in 2nd tier cities in China to Evergrande Real Estate for HKD 16.36 billion. The property projects are located in Wuhan, Hubei province, Huiyang, Guangdong, and Haikou, Hainan Island. The sale will allow NWCL to reap a net gain of HKD 6.57 billion. (December 3rd)
Singapore
CapitaLand Mall Trust said that it will be redeveloping Funan DigitaLife Mall into an integrated development. Funan DigitaLife Mall is located in the downtown core of Singapore, in the heart of the Civic District. The mall had minor upgrades in 2005, there are a total of 178 outlets spread over six floors. The mall will be closed in third quarter next year for redevelop project. CapitaLand Mall Trust is Singapore’s largest REIT by market capitalization. (December 10th)
City Developments said it is in partnership with Australia's Abacus Property Group and KPG Capital, to jointly develop a prime residential project in Brisbane’s South Bank. CDL and Abacus will jointly provide the majority of equity funding via a preferred equity interest. CDL through its subsidiary Kingsgate International Corporation Limited, owned Birkenhead Point Shopping Centre & Marina, Sydney’s largest outlet centre in Drummoyne. (December 10th)
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Singapore released the detailed sales conditions for the White site at Central Boulevard today. Located within the heart of the Marina Bay, the development on the White site will be available to building of prime office space in the precinct the development of the area as Singapore’s international business and financial hub. The future building may be built up to a height of approximately 50 storeys, offering views across Marina Bay and the Central Business District (CBD). Site area of approximately 1 ha and a gross plot ratio of 13.0, the White site at Central Boulevard can yield a potential gross floor area (GFA) of about 141,309 sqm, of which around 100,000 sqm will be set aside for office use. The remaining GFA will mainly be used for complementary uses such as hotels, serviced apartments or residential uses that contribute to the attractiveness of the development as a destination for live, work and play, according to URA. The land parcel is available for application under the Reserve List of the second half 2015 Government Land Sales Programme. (December 16th)
City Developments Limited(CDL) has entered into an agreement with Keppel Group’s Alpha Investment Partners Limited (Alpha), through Alpha Asia Macro Trends Fund II (AAMTF II), to create a joint office investment platform to acquire three of CDL's prime office assets. Through this transaction, both CDL and Keppel’s Alpha will jointly invest in an office portfolio with a total value of approximately SGD 1.1 billion. (December 15th)
Singapore's Ascendas REIT, or A-REIT, buys a logistics property on Clunies Ross Street Sydney, for AUD 76.6 million (SGD 76.6 million) from Deka Australia One. A-REIT said the acquisition is expected to generate a net yield of around 6.6% post transaction costs in the first year. (December 24th)
Australia
Australia Stock Exchange- listed Westfield sold five malls in US for USD1.1 billion to continue focus on core asset development. The ASX-listed commercial property developer sold five malls including five mall includes Connecticut Post in Connecticut, Fox Valley in Illinois to the investor group joint venture comprising Centennial Real Estate Company as managing member, together with Montgomery Street Partners, and USAA Real Estate. Combined with the recent divestment of Carlsbad, Westfield will realise approximately USD 1bn in net proceeds from the transactions. Westfield Corporation will retain a 20 percent non-managing common equity interest. Westfield said it is in line with its strategy to focus creating and operating core assets in while diversify away from non-core assets. Westfield's current project includes the World Trade Center New York, Westfield Milan Italy. (Deccember 21st)
APAC Cities
Hong Kong (16.7%), New Zealand (12.6%) are among world's top five housing price growthplaces in the third quarter, according to Knight Frank the Global House Price Index for Q3 2015. Five countries recorded double-digit annual price growth, with Turkey (18.9%) leading the ranking, followed by Hong Kong (16.7%), New Zealand (12.6%), Sweden (11.1%) and Luxembourg (10.1%). New Zealand and Australia recorded annual growth of 12.6% and 9.8% respectively. House prices in New Zealand and Australia now stand 43% and 48% respectively above their financial crisis lows. The pace of decline in China slowed from the year-on-year -5.7% in June to -2.0% in September. With a US rate rise now imminent, Knight Frank expects some emerging markets to slip down the house price rankings in 2016. (December 9th)
