Blackstone to Open New Office Near Korea’s NPS and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

US fund management titan Blackstone leads today’s collection of real estate headlines from around Asia as the company makes plans for a presence close to Korea’s largest pension fund. Also in the news, Morgan Stanley gets pessimistic on Singapore property and a new report tracks Country Garden’s struggles back to August.

Blackstone Expands Korean Presence

Global asset management firms are increasingly turning their attention to the Korean market, driven by the market’s robust recovery following the pandemic’s conclusion and the easing of the strong dollar trend. Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative investment manager, is one of them.

During a recent meeting with Kim Tae-hyun, chairman of the National Pension Service, Blackstone president Jonathan Gray revealed plans to open a liaison office in Jeonju, North Jeolla province, early next year. This strategic move positions Blackstone closer to the NPS, whose headquarters are in Jeonju. The office would also support various initiatives within the Korean market. Read more>>

Morgan Stanley Calls End to Singapore’s Housing Rally

Singapore’s seven-year rally in private home prices, the longest upcycle since the 1980s, is about to end as a demand-supply imbalance could reverse next year, according to Morgan Stanley.

Analysis of leading indicators including housing vacancies and sales show home prices will likely decline 3 percent in 2024, and the downturn may persist for as many as two years, analysts Wilson Ng and Derek Chang wrote in a note dated 8 November. Read more>>

Country Garden Struggled to Build Homes, Pay Bills in August 

When China’s largest developer, Country Garden, first skipped debt payments in August, its shares tumbled 14 percent, marking a reversal of fortunes: from industry poster child to another troubled property company struggling to pay its creditors.

The same month, Chinese authorities quietly started talks with Ping An, asking the insurance group to take a controlling stake in the developer, according to a Reuters report that was denied by Ping An. Read more>>

China Property Debt Crisis Spurs More Bond Sales Tied To Bad Loans

Chinese banks are packaging more of their non-performing loans as asset-backed securities, the latest wrinkle in the nation’s property debt crisis at the heart of its economic downturn.

The ABS bond sales jumped 88 percent year-on-year to RMB 33.8 billion ($4.6 billion) in the first 10 months, mostly by state-owned banks and their subsidiaries, according to data from cn-abs.com, which tracks the market. It’s the highest comparable-period total in the data going back to 2016. Read more>>

Sasseur REIT Distributions Slide

Sasseur REIT has posted distribution per unit of S$0.01512 ($0.011) for the third quarter ended 30 September, down 17.7 percent on the year from S$0.01838. The drop in DPU came mainly from unfavourable foreign exchange rates and higher finance costs, its manager said in a business update on Friday.

The China retail-focused REIT’s entrusted management agreement income was 6.5 percent higher in yuan terms at RMB 161.9 million ($22 million), but 1.5 percent lower at S$30.3 million in Singapore dollar terms. Read more>>

Vietnamese Government Huddles to Implement Real Estate Restructuring

The governor of Vietnam’s central bank and representatives from some ministries, credit institutions and businesses will meet online on 13 November to look into the implementation of the prime minister’s dispatch on the real estate market.

The construction minister and officials from the Government Office and the ministries of public security, finance, planning and investment, natural resources and environment, and justice will join the event. Read more>> 

CapitaLand Launches 4,000-Unit Hanoi Residential Project

CapitaLand Development has launched a residential project with a projected gross development value of $1 billion in Hanoi.

Lumi Hanoi was designed by renowned French architect Jean-Francois Milou of Studio Milou and spans an area of 5.6 hectares (13.8 acres) in the west of Hanoi, near a variety of amenities including parks, schools, shopping malls, medical centres and the new administrative centre. Read more>>

Singapore Real Estate Sentiment Continued to Slide in Q3

Property sentiment has been sent to a new low by external economic uncertainties caused by the escalating hostilities in Gaza and the ongoing war in Ukraine, a recent poll has found.

Real estate executives had also flagged the slowing down in new-sale activities in the local residential property market in September and October as reasons for the low sentiment, in the quarterly survey by the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies of the National University of Singapore. Read more>>

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