Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Local







" ~ a quarter of all overseas investments and construction and engineering projects undertaken by Chinese companies from 2005 to 2014 - worth $246 billion - have been stalled by snafus or failed"   >> MORE





  • $3.5 billion 'blup' in Bahamas  >> details  >>  $50K to see sales package
  • Members clash with Chinese owners of Wentworth Golf Club  > more clashes
  • Overpay in Hong Kong - 'immature money management



















    • SCMP

    Development Overseas Not Easy











    Global Monopoly doesn't mean applying same template everywhere

    PUBLISHED MAY 24, 2014
    Sentosa Cove villas relaunched at a discount
    Developer Ximeng Land giving 5% discount for remaining 12 luxury villas on Pearl Island
    BY
    KALPANA RASHIWALA


    BRAND NEW
    Each villa on Pearl Island comprises two storeys in addition to a roof terrace and basement. Absolute prices vary from about $14.3 million to $25.5 million per villa. 


    XIMENG Land, controlled by mainland China parties, is relaunching the balance 12 luxury villas on Pearl Island in Sentosa Cove at $2,185 psf on land area. The price is inclusive of a 5 per cent discount to the $2,300 psf list prices for the units. A year ago, the developer's asking price was $2,400 psf.
    Absolute prices vary from about $14.3 million to $25.5 million per villa. Pearl Island is one of the five man-made islands in the upscale waterfront housing district.
    "These are the last remaining brand-new luxury villas in the island developments in Cove, fully fitted and ready for occupation," said Steve Tay, associate director at Newsman Realty, which was last month appointed sole marketing agent for the villas.
    Since 2010, Ximeng has sold seven of the project's 19 villas at prices ranging from $1,904 psf to $2,228 psf on land area. The buyers comprise Singaporeans, Indonesians and mainland Chinese. The seven units sold include two adjacent units bought by members of the Liu family that controls Ximeng Land. One was purchased for $17.1 million or $1,904 psf on land and the other, for $19.5 million or $1,906 psf. The highest absolute price achieved for the seven sold units was $27 million (translating to $2,162 psf), for a bungalow on 12,486 sq ft of land - the biggest of Pearl Island's 19 villas.


    PUBLISHED MAY 08, 2014

    Sinopec faces inconvenient truth in retail business stake sale

    Sinopec has never quite figured out how to market to Chinese consumers, who aren't used to shopping at filling stations 
    [HONG KONG] The Easy Joy convenience store attached to a Sinopec petrol station in China's boomtown of Shenzhen sells everything from cookies and gum to mineral water and cigarettes, much like any gas station in the United States or Europe.
    The difference is that Chinese consumers aren't buying. "Most people come here just to pay their fuel bills after filling up their tanks," said a blue-uniformed store assistant in her 20s.
    Five motorists did just that during a 10-minute period last Friday morning. All left without buying anything from the store, which also sells rice, cooking oil, dry spicy bean curd and the fiery Chinese liquor baijiu.
    Unlike in Western markets, where non-fuel businesses - convenience stores plus things like fast food or car washing - can account for more than half of a filling station's profits, more than 99 per cent of Sinopec's retail sales come from petrol.



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    Tuesday, May 6, 2014

    Ayala







    PUBLISHED MAY 06, 2014
    Lack of an urban planner a blessing for Ayala Land
    Biggest Philippine developer could buy big plots, have own plan and design
    BY
    LEE MEIXIAN
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    ANOTHER real estate developer might have viewed it as an obstacle, but Ayala Land says that it has worked the Philippines' political instability, frequent leadership changes, and government's lack of an urban planning or development agency to its advantage.
    Not having to adhere to a regulatory body's land use blueprint has enabled it to acquire large plots of land and develop them according to its own plan and design. And as long as the developer is paying its property taxes, building financial districts to attract multinational corporations and foreign investment, and providing infrastructure and services that benefit the city, the government has no complaints.
    President of Ayala Land, international sales, Thomas Mirasol, on a recent visit to Singapore, said: "The fact that there is nobody in the Philippines who regulates urban planning has been great for Ayala Land, because we are probably the only company there that has the scale financially to take on large plots of land."
    Ayala Land is the largest real estate developer in the Philippines, with a market capitalisation of about US$10 billion, much larger than the next five biggest Philippine developers combined.


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    Saturday, May 3, 2014

    One Hyde Park









    PUBLISHED MAY 03, 2014
    Hyde Park penthouse may have changed hands at record price
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    POSH NEIGHBOURHOOD
    Located in Knightsbridge, home to Harrods department store, Royal Albert Hall and the five-star Berkeley hotel. 
    London
    A PENTHOUSE in London's One Hyde Park luxury apartment complex valued at as much as £175 million (S$370 million) has been sold by Christian Candy's CPC Group Ltd. The 16,000 square foot duplex penthouse D was valued independently at £160 million to £175 million, CPC said yesterday. The buyer and selling price weren't disclosed.
    A sale at that price would value the property at more than £10,000 per square foot, a UK record, said Oliver Hooper, director of broker Huntly Hooper Ltd. The previous record was £9,000 a square foot paid for a London mansion, he said.
    London luxury-home values have soared since 2009 as the world's wealthy sought safe assets. CPC has sold properties worth more than £2 billion since One Hyde Park opened in 2011, according to the statement. The apartment complex is located in Knightsbridge, home to Harrods department store, Royal Albert Hall and the five-star Berkeley hotel.   -- Bloomberg

    London sets new record with $297m apartment sale

    Reuters
    Saturday, May 03, 2014
    LONDON - London's red-hot property market has struck a new record with the sale of a 140 million pound (S$297 million, US$237 million) unfurnished apartment, but even the developer of the opulent building warned that some asking prices in Britain were unsustainable.
    Buoyed by the wealth of Russian oligarchs, Chinese tycoons and Arab sheikhs, London has become one of the most expensive markets on earth, raising concerns ahead of parliamentary elections in 2015 that locals are being squeezed out of the market.
    "We're in boom-time prices, more expensive than we've ever been in the history of mankind," Nick Candy, one of the developers of London's One Hyde Park luxury apartments, at the pinnacle of the capital's super-prime residential sector, told Reuters.
    "There is a concern over the market overheating ... Everyone thinks the main central London is doing so well, (so) the ripple effect is going throughout the UK, and some of the prices being achieved are probably unrealistic and not sustainable."
    But money is still pouring in.
    A source familiar with the matter said an Eastern European buyer bought a penthouse at the One Hyde Park apartment block for a record 140 million pounds.
    Candy confirmed that a 16,000 square foot penthouse had been sold but declined to comment on the price or name the buyer. Developer CPC Group, which is run by his brother Christian, said the flat could be worth 160-175 million pounds when furnished.
    Britain's previous record for an apartment was set three years ago by Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhemtov, who paid 136 million pounds for a penthouse and apartment at One Hyde Park to knock together into one property.
    There have been more than US$2 billion in sales at the block, whose developer is a joint venture between CPC Group and Waterknights, the private company of Qatar's Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al Thani.
    Candy & Candy, run by Nick Candy, were the interior designers and development managers for the project.
    POLITICAL THREATS
    The wall of money chasing a finite amount of property has sent luxury London prices soaring almost 80 per cent since 2009, and while plutocrats' ostentatious purchases grab the limelight, prices have rocketed even in poorer areas.
    Prime central London house prices have risen 79.4 per cent since March 2009, against a 40.6 per cent increase in Greater London house prices over the same period, according to data from Savills.
    Candy, who with brother Christian started out in 1995 with a 6,000 pound loan from their grandmother, said the main risks to the market were changes in government policy, a rise in interest rates or oversupply at the top end.
    "If the political climate changes in either (London or New York), so in London next year the government wants to charge mansion tax and other taxes, the market might change. They might have a correction, a significant correction," he said.
    "I don't see a massive correction unless a number of things happen, firstly a change of government, second of all, interest rates start going up high and inflation starts going."
    The British government has in recent months imposed new taxes on overseas purchasers, while the opposition Labour Party, which is leading in opinion polls for the national election, has proposed a tax on houses worth over 2 million pounds.
    Rising prices have prompted a rush of luxury developments.
    More than 20,000 residential units - worth over 1,250 pounds per square foot - are scheduled to be built in London over the next 10 years, building consultancy EC Harris said in December, adding that this was more than double the 2011 pipeline.
    Grosvenor Group, the landlord for much of London's upmarket Mayfair and Belgravia districts, said on Tuesday it had sold off 240 million pounds in luxury residential properties in 2013 and aimed to reinvest in cheaper districts, as it was concerned that prices at the top end of the market were vulnerable.
    Such is London's wealth that Property consultant Savills calculates 10 London boroughs now have an aggregate property value equivalent to the total value of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined.    -- ASIA ONE

      One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge where a flat traded for £29.35 m

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      Friday, April 25, 2014

      Gherkin






      PUBLISHED APRIL 26, 2014
      London's Gherkin put into receivership
      Holders of debt act to take control of the landmark building to end years of defaults
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      'CUCUMBER' TOWER

      The 180-metre Gherkin, London's third-tallest building, was both ridiculed and admired when it opened as the Swiss Re tower 10 years ago. Swiss Re and Standard Chartered are among its tenants. - PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
      London
      LENDERS to the Gherkin, the conical skyscraper that's one of London's best-known landmarks, have appointed a receiver to take control of the building to end years of defaults.
      Holders of debt backed by the 30 St Mary Axe tower in the City of London financial district hired Deloitte LLP after "adverse interest rate and currency movements have caused the total senior liabilities secured by the property to increase materially", the company said in a statement.
      Receivership is similar to US bankruptcy protection.


      From Straits Times - April 26, 2014
      The cucumber shaped building at 30 St Mary Axe one of London best known landmarked opened 10 years ago this month.
      The 180M tower is fully occupied according to Evans Randall, a London base company that bought the property with a fund managed by Germany IVG Immobilien for British pound 600M in 2007.

      The building was valued at British pound 473M to 510M in 2012. ……….Brokers will be salivating in the change of ownership. 

      HSBC London HQ. 44 storey (built in 2002) in Canary Wharf is on sale and could fetch over British pound 1.1 Billion. It was sold for 1.09 Billion at the height of the property boom in 2007. HSBC has a 13 years lease on the bld. HSBC sold to Spanish property Co Metrovacesa  for 1.1B but took back ownership in late 2008 when Metrovacesa ran into financial difficulties. South Korean pension fund bought building from HSBC for nearly 800M. 

      Last year Blackstone sold its 50% stake City Broadgate complex to GIC & Dikran Izmirlian sold the More to Kuwait state property co. Both deals were reportedly priced at about 1.7B British pounds

      ·         article on the Gherkin’s iconic status ; http://archinect.com/news/article/84833004/investing-in-risk-how-the-gherkin-became-a-british-icon;
      ·         article regards CBRE’s recent appointment as thhttps://id.wsj.com/access/pages/wsj/us/login_standalone.html?mg=id-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.wsj.com%2Fcanadarealtime%2F2014%2F08%2F14%2Fdesire2learn-raises-85m-to-deliver-personalized-education%2F%3Fmod%3DWSJBlog%26mod%3DWSJ_Canada_Realtime&user=gloveralst&mg=id-wsj&mg=id-wsje Gherkin’s property managers; http://www.cpexecutive.com/regions/international/cbre-tapped-to-manage-londons-gherkin/1004082796.html;

      The Race Begins


      *  Gherkin skyscraper put up for sale

      BBC News-2 hours ago
      London's Gherkin skyscraper has been put up for sale, with interest expected from Chinese, other Asian, and US buyers, estate agency Savills ...

      *  London's Gherkin to Fetch £650m

      International Business Times UK-4 hours ago
      *  London's Gherkin for sale at £650m
      Irish Times (blog)-1 hour ago






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      Wednesday, April 23, 2014

      Germany






















      PUBLISHED JUNE 03, 2014

      Credit Suisse to sell German properties valued at 700m euros


      Credit Suisse Group AG is selling commercial buildings in Germany valued at about 700 million euros (S$1.2 billion) as it liquidates property mutual funds in the country, two people with knowledge of the matter said 
      Suisse Group AG is selling commercial buildings in Germany valued at about 700 million euros (S$1.2 billion) as it liquidates property mutual funds in the country, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
      Brookfield Financial is managing the sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Some of the 20 properties being sold are held by Credit Suisse's CS Euroreal fund and include the German headquarters of Royal Philips NV in Hamburg, one of the people added.
      A spokeswoman at Zurich-based Credit Suisse and a spokesman at Brookfield Financial, a unit of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management Inc, declined to comment.
      German property funds began winding down more than 25 billion euros of assets in 2010 after investors, shaken by the global financial crisis, sought more redemptions than funds could immediately meet. More than 13 of the 44 funds have suspended redemptions or are liquidating, noted Sonja Knorr, an analyst at Berlin-based Scope Ratings.
      Mall of Berlin: The one billion euro mall will open next month with 76,000 sq m of retail space, apartments, a hotel and 1,000 parking spots. - 

      [BERLIN] When Harald Huth bought the former Wertheim department store site in central Berlin, he planned to build a mall with 200 shops for about 400 million euros (S$690 million). Three years and almost one billion euros later, he's set to open Germany's biggest shopping centre, with 270 stores.
      The developer's growing ambitions reflect Berlin's emergence as a shopping destination. Retail rents in the capital climbed the most among Germany's big cities last year, driven by a surge in tourism and a growing population.

      "In the past 10 years, Berlin has developed excellently," Mr Huth, 45, said. "The tenant demand we received gave me confidence that the project could be bigger." Germany's biggest city has been something of an emerging market in the decades of rebuilding that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

      Though Berliners' incomes are still lower than the national average, the city is beginning to attract brands like Apple and Forever 21, which opened stores there last year.


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