China’s top developers enjoyed rising sales in April (Getty Images)
China’s recovering housing market leads today’s set of headlines from around the region as the mainland’s top developers grew their contracted sales for a third straight month in April. Also making the list today, Hong Kong’s MTR aims to spice up its Oyster Bay site after a failed tender and Sun Hung Kai Properties sells all the units made available in a Tai Po project after cutting prices.
Home Sales by China’s Top Developers Rise for Third Straight Month
China’s home sales rose for a third month in April, adding to signs of a recovery after policymakers expanded support for the beleaguered sector.
The value of new home sales by the 100 biggest real estate developers climbed 31.6 percent from a year earlier to RMB 566.5 billion ($81.9 billion), according to preliminary data from China Real Estate Information Corp. That compares with a 29.2 percent increase in March. Read more>>
Hong Kong’s MTR Readies Second Attempt to Sell Lantau Island Site
Hong Kong transit operator MTR Corporation, which also develops property, plans to retender the first residential project at its Oyster Bay station in northern Lantau Island within the year, after it was withdrawn from sale in February.
The firm, the owner of significant commercial real estate, will issue an improved version of its tender for the project, which will be near a future MTR station expected to be operational in 2030, after gathering different industry opinions “as soon as possible”, David Tang Chi-fai, property and international business director at MTR Corp, said at a media briefing on Sunday. Read more>>
Sun Hung Kai Tai Po Project Launch Sells Out After Price Cuts
Buyers have snapped up all of 150 new homes offered by Sun Hung Kai Properties at its University Hill development in northern Hong Kong’s Tai Po, lured by the developer’s price cuts. By late afternoon on Saturday, all units available in open sales were sold, according to agents. Another 10 units will be sold separately via bidding.
The units on offer – ranging from 273 to 640 square feet in usable space – are priced from HK$4.37 million ($557,000) to HK$11.05 million after discounts of up to 15 percent, or from HK$13,357 to HK$19,321 per square foot. Read more>>
Chinese Buyers Pick Up Four Condos in Singapore Project Despite Tax Hike
Eight of the 198 apartments that EL Development sold at the launch of its 275-unit Blossoms By The Park project on Saturday (Apr 29) were bought by foreigners.
Buyers from China picked up four apartments – either two-bedroom units or two-bedroom-with-study units; they will have to pay the 60 percent additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) rate that kicked in on Apr 27 for foreign buyers of any residential property here. The other four units were bought by American citizens. Read more>>
CDL Delays Preview of Downtown Condo Project After Stamp Duty Increase
City Developments Ltd (CDL) has pushed back the launch of its prime downtown project Newport Residences, which sits in the prime residential segment that analysts have said will take a direct hit from latest government cooling measures.
Newport Residences, a 246-unit freehold luxury development at Anson Road, had been scheduled to start previews this weekend. Prices are said to be pitched north of S$3,000 per square foot (psf). Read more>>
New China Mortgages Rise by Lowest Amount on Record
China’s property market slump is showing some signs of having hit bottom but that’s not translating into increased demand for new mortgages, which grew by the smallest amount on record in the first three months of this year.
The outstanding amount of individual mortgages rose to RMB 38.9 trillion, only RMB 100 billion higher than the same period in 2022, according to data from the People’s Bank of China. As well as weak demand for new loans, the increasing trend to repay loans early is cutting into the total amount of outstanding loans, with people across China increasingly paying off some or all their mortgage early as they seek to reduce debt amid a gloomy outlook for incomes and declining investment returns. Read more>>
Country Garden Restarts Land Buys with Hangzhou Site Acquisition
Country Garden Holdings Co, one of China’s largest real-estate developers, bought residential land in a local government auction for the first time since December 2021, signaling confidence in its liquidity and a recovering housing market.
The company, which used to be an aggressive acquirer of land, had been hit by a sharp slowdown in China’s property sector last year. Its sales of new apartments slumped, and prices of its dollar bonds slid to below 10 cents on the dollar in November, as investors worried that Country Garden could default on its debt like dozens of other developers. Read more>>
China Oceanwide Shares Jump After Court Orders Restructuring
Shares of Oceanwide Holdings, which is at risk of a stock market delisting, jumped after the Chinese conglomerate said it had received a court-issued pre-restructuring notice yesterday.
Oceanwide closed up 7.5 percent at 86 Chinese cents (12 US cents) a share in Shenzhen today, still below CNY1 for the 11th straight trading day. According to regulations, stocks that close below CNY1 for 20 trading days in a row will be delisted. Read more>>
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