URA to Suffer $192M Loss on Sale of Kowloon Project and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Shing Tak Street-Ma Tau Chung Road (Image: Urban Renewal Authority)

Hong Kong’s Urban Renewal Authority leads today’s headline roundup as the government agency takes a $192 million hit on its sale of a project in Kowloon’s Kai Tak area last week. Also in the news, China’s new home prices fall for a fifth straight month and some of the world’s largest investors are said to be bidding for a CPPIB-Indospace logistics portfolio in India.

URA Hit With $192M Loss on Kowloon Project Sale

The Urban Renewal Authority is expected to incur a nearly HK$1.5 billion ($192 million) loss from the sale of the Shing Tak Street-Ma Tau Chung Road project in Kowloon last week as it was tendered to a consortium of Sino Land, China Merchants Land and Great Eagle for a bid of HK$1.93 at HK$1.9 billion — below the initial acquisition price.

The URA had initiated acquisition of property rights for the Shing Tak Street project in August 2021, during a period of flourishing property market conditions, with the market having declined an estimated 20 percent since then. Read more>>

China New Home Prices Fall for Fifth Straight Month

China’s new home prices fell for the fifth straight month in November, official data showed Friday, as the sector still struggles to elbow its way out of a weak market in the face of dampened confidence in demand and investment.

New home prices fell 0.3 percent month-to-month, matching the figure in October, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics data. Read more>>

Mubadala, APG Said Bidding for CPPIB Stake in Indospace Portfolio

Marquee global investors like UAE’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and Dutch pension fund APG have put in bids to buy Canada’s largest pension fund manager CPPIB’s 50 percent stake in IndoSpace Core, said sources in the know. Canadian investor Oxford Properties and Ivanhoe Cambridge, the real estate arm of Canadian pension fund CDPQ, are also in the race.

The deal is expected to be of around $700 million and CPPIB has given the mandate to Morgan Stanley to run the sale process, sources said. IndoSpace Core, an owner and developer of warehouses, is a joint venture between IndoSpace and CPPIB. Read more>>

State-Backed Developer China South City Warns of Offshore Bond Default

A Chinese developer partially owned by the southern city of Shenzhen warned it can’t pay interest due Wednesday as it races to win support from creditors to extend dollar bond deadlines, raising the risk of its first default.

China South City Holdings Ltd. said in a stock exchange filing that it doesn’t have the resources to pay the interest of its 9 percent notes due July 2024 — with $235 million of principal outstanding — by the end of a grace period 20 December, citing liquidity and cash flow constraints from a deteriorating operating environment and its impact on the real estate sector. Read more>>

SHKP Sells 86% of Units in Yoho West Project in New Territories

Hong Kong’s biggest developer, Sun Hung Kai Properties, enjoyed another round of robust weekend sales as big discounts and a positive interest rate outlook prompted local buyers to snap up units at its latest housing project.

A total of 241 flats at Yoho West — a residential project jointly developed by SHKP and MTR Corp in Tin Shui Wai, New Territories — were sold on Saturday, according to agents. With about 86 percent of the 280 units on offer sold this round, the project is in line with property agents’ estimate of 80 to 90 percent. Read more>>

Cromwell E-REIT Buys Back $54M in Bonds Due 2025

Cromwell European REIT has repurchased €50 million ($54 million), or 10 percent, of its €500 million 2.125 percent bonds due on 19 November 2025.

Following the repurchase, the aggregate principal amount of the bonds outstanding will be €450 million. Read more>>

Lendlease Global REIT Restructures Lease for Milan Complex 

Lendlease Global Commercial REIT’s commercial Italy fund has restructured a lease at Milan portfolio property Sky Complex, originally due to expire in 2032, with an option for termination by the tenant in 2026.

The move will not only reduce tenant concentration risk, but also result in higher rent for two of the property’s buildings, on top of a recent 5.9 percent rental increase in May 2023, the trust’s manager said Monday. Read more>>

Hong Kong Bankers’ Uneasy Dance With Property Tycoons

Hong Kong dazzles with its soaring skyscrapers and swanky shopping malls, and the city has its bankers to thank. Over the years, landlords routinely relied on banks to finance ambitious projects and expected good relationships to remain. But lenders are getting nervous.

Next year, close to HK$200 billion ($25.6 billion) of bank loans taken out by Hong Kong’s property developers will be due, and only 15 percent of them have been — or are close to being — refinanced, according to HSBC Holdings Plc estimates. Read more>>

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