* Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd., China's largest developer by sales, suspended all of its ongoing projects in the country to conduct safety inspections, following a work-site incident that killed six people and injured 12 others, Chinese publication Caixin Global reported, citing an announcement made through the developer's official WeChat account.
Hundreds of ongoing developments are expected to be halted as the company "thoroughly" inspects its projects for potential safety hazards to workers. It comes after a worker dormitory and a wall collapsed at a project in Lu'an county amid torrential rain and gusts of wind, resulting to the fatal accident.
* Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. revised its application for the Shap Sze Heung residential site in Hong Kong, which could be worth HK$80 billion upon completion, according to Thomas Lam, director at Knight Frank, as cited by the South China Morning Post.
The developer is looking to increase the project's offering to 9,500 flats, up from the original 4,930 units, by trimming the gross average size of each unit to 610 square feet from 1,000 square feet.
Hong Kong and China
* Future Land Development Holdings Ltd.'s Shanghai Yaju Property Co. Ltd. subsidiary is buying Jiangsu Xinqi Investments Co. Ltd. from Jiangsu Future Land Chuangye Co. Ltd. and Jiangsu Future Land Shiye Group Co. Ltd. under a nearly 972.9 million yuan conditional agreement.
The targeted company is principally engaged in investment holding and has interests in at least two licensed banks in China.
* Zall Smart Commerce Group Ltd. is expecting an over 6x year-over-year growth in its revenue for the six months ended June 30. The company is attributing the bullish forecast primarily to the completion of its acquisitions of stakes in two companies.
* A 50/50 joint venture between a Lai Sun Development Co. Ltd. subsidiary and Financial Express International Ltd. is selling the No. 8 Observatory Road commercial properties in Kowloon, Hong Kong, to Treasure Ascend Global Ltd. and an independent third party for HK$4.10 billion.
Lai Sun is expecting an approximately HK$235 million gain from the sale, which is subject to the approval of the company's shareholders, among other conditions.
* China Evergrande Group paid over HK$3 billion to repurchase its shares, according to SCMP. The developer and seven more property companies in mainland China, including Shimao Property Holdings Ltd., Logan Property Holdings Co. Ltd. and China Jinmao Holdings Group Ltd., spent an aggregate HK$4.4 billion to buy back stocks between July 2 and July 23.
Australia
* Vicinity Centres is looking to integrate more office towers and residential development in its retail portfolio, on the back of completing a A$660 million redevelopment at its Chadstone shopping center in Melbourne, The Australian Financial Review reported.
The refurbishment paved the way for the addition of two office buildings to the retail complex, along with a hotel that will be managed by AccorHotels. Carolyn Viney, executive general manager for development, also told the paper that they have a demand to add to two more office buildings to the project.
* Mirvac Group CEO Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz told The Australian that they welcome new rules proposed in the federal government that will recognize build-to-rent as an institutional asset class in Australia.
The proposed regulations, along with the New South Wales government's plan to pilot a build-to-rent development in Sydney, demonstrates strong momentum for what could be a A$300 billion sector, according to the executive.
Southeast Asia
* Cebu Landmasters Inc. Chairman Jose Soberano III was quoted by The Philippine Star as saying that the company's consortium is hoping to receive before the end of 2018 the necessary approvals for its planned 100-hectare reclamation project in Cebu, Philippines.
Intended for the site is an industrial estate that will also include a small commercial area mixed-use development and possibly, a hotel, according to Soberano.
* The price hike in private residential properties in Singapore slowed in the second quarter of 2018 with an increase of 3.4% from the 3.9% observed in the first quarter, data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed.
For landed properties, prices grew 4.1% during the comparable period from 1.9%, while for non-landed properties, prices increased 3.2% in the second quarter compared with 4.4% in the first quarter.
Other real estate news
* AustralianSuper, the largest superannuation fund in Australia, bought a 239-apartment build-to-rent complex in Sarasota County, Fl., as part of a roughly US$54.7 million deal, according to the The Australian.
The acquisition comes as the fund's partnership in London secured Facebook in a leasing deal that will commence 2021 for a precinct being overhauled in King's Cross. The technology company agreed to occupy almost 57,000 square meters of space across three buildings under the deal.
Rollen Catorce contributed to this report.