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Housing Down Under makes Blackstone wary; Cromwell files prospectus for S-REIT

* Blackstone Group LP's head of real estate, Jon Gray, told The Australian Financial Review in an interview that the private-equity giant's hesitation to jump in on Australia's housing market is due to home price increases observed in the country, noting that a similar trend is seen in Canada. "For us, overall, we have limited to no exposure to the Australian housing market although we are looking at the debt side with the banks having pulled back particularly with foreign investors in housing," Gray said.

Blackstone's head of Australian real estate, Chris Tynan, added that the firm is also studying the emerging build-to-rent sector in the country but there are "no imminent plans" to invest in the asset class.

* Cromwell Property Group said it registered with the Monetary Authority of Singapore the prospectus for the planned listing in Singapore of its Europe-focused real estate investment trust. The company noted that Cromwell European Real Estate Investment Trust is expected to debut on the Singapore stock exchange Nov. 30.

Australia

* Oasis Star Ltd.'s A$1.30 per share offer for the 80% interest in Tian An Australia Ltd. that it does not already own became unconditional.

* The real estate arm of Canada's Manulife Financial Corp. agreed to buy the office complex at Melbourne's 800 Collins St. for nearly A$300 million, The Australian reported. Lendlease Corp. Ltd.'s Australian Prime Property Fund Commercial and Savills Investment Management are the sellers of the grade A building.

* Property fund manager CorVal sold a six-level twin office in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta to Mirvac Group for A$86.3 million, the AFR reported. The fully leased 9,568-square-meter building is anchored by St George Bank.

* Beulah International is in pole position to acquire a 6,000-square-meter BMW dealership site in Melbourne's central business district, which was put on the block in August with a A$100 price tag, the AFR reported.

Hong Kong and China

* Longfor Properties Co. Ltd.'s 462-room Guanyu project in Beijing's Jiuxianqiao area is the latest co-living project to be launched in the mainland, the South China Morning Post reported. Longfor's foray into the growing sector comes as the government throws its support behind the new trend in residential leasing, which is also attracting other developers such as China Vanke Co. Ltd. and Sino-Ocean Land Ltd., according to the report.

* As co-living gains popularity, budget hotels in Hong Kong's noncore areas are also starting to explore investments in the sector, the SCMP reported. Alvin Leung, associate director for valuation advisory services at JLL, told the publication that the strategic shift comes as occupancy fell in some hotels in non-tourist areas of Hong Kong, where rents have surged for 18 consecutive months.

* Maanshan Maowen Technology Park Co. Ltd., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Shenzhen Investment Ltd., applied to the Hong Kong stock exchange for a property valuation waiver in compliance with listing rules, in relation to its agreement to acquire a stake in China Evergrande Group's Hengda Real Estate Group Co. Ltd. spinoff.

* A subsidiary of Yinyi Real Estate Co. Ltd. secured two land sites in auctions for a combined 493 million yuan, Reuters reported.

* Shenzhen International Holdings Ltd. is planning to issue US$300.0 million of 3.95% senior perpetual capital securities Nov. 29 to invest in integrated logistics hubs, repay debt and for general working capital.

Singapore

* Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd. subsidiary Brenformexa Ltd.'s 90 Singaporean cents per-unit offer for Indiabulls Properties Investment Trust closed Nov. 22 at 5:30 p.m. Singapore time, with the offeror ending up with a roughly 99.66% stake in the target.

* Among Asia-Pacific markets that implemented property cooling measures, only Singapore saw success, The (Singapore) Business Times reported, citing PwC and Urban Land Institute's Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2018 report.

Public housing resale prices in the city-state fell 11%, while private housing prices decreased 10%, the paper noted, adding that home prices in China, Hong Kong and Australia are still increasing.

Japan

* Nippon Commercial Development Co. Ltd. is planning to divest 16 real estate assets for ¥16.93 billion, Reuters reported.

* Japan Prime Realty Investment Corp. renewed its ¥24 billion credit commitment line with six banks, ahead of the agreement's Nov. 30 expiration schedule.

* Mitsui Fudosan Co. Ltd. and Mitsui Fudosan Hotel Management Co. Ltd. will jointly open their third Celestine Hotel-brand property in the country, Hotel The Celestine Tokyo Shiba, Nov. 28, Jutaku-Shimpo-Sha reported.

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The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific, Real Estate edition is updated by 6:30 a.m. Hong Kong time. Some external links may require a subscription. Articles and links are correct as of publication time.

Cam Nones and John Chan contributed to this report.

As of Nov. 22, US$1 was equivalent to 6.61 yuan, ¥111.63 and S$1.35.