Real Estate

Residential property leasing will now be deemed to be a contract-controlled business following publication in the Government Gazette last week.

The notification defines a “residential property leasing business” as a business that leases (or subleases) five units of property or more to individual lessees, for residential purposes, in exchange for a fee collected by the business operator, regardless of whether or not the units are in the same building.

Property is defined to include any accommodation, house, condominium unit, apartment, or other kind of residential property leased for residential purposes, excluding dormitories and hotels which are regulated separately.

Property consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle (Thailand) Ltd (JLL) said that the new residential leasing law , effective on May 1, will make it more challenging for landlords to handle tenants who violate any of the agreed-upon terms and conditions of a binding contract.

The notificatio…

Co-living, a term used to describe a living arrangement that is something more than shared space, in growing in Asia, especially in China and Hong Kong.

Typically, a co-living facility will offer tenants small rooms but also shared facilities such as a TV room or a gym.

There is also a social aspect; some facilities have a manager who will organise events. As well as convenience and community, co-living facilities also claim to offer cheaper rent than an individual apartment.

Hong Kong is seeing a growing number of co-living developments – unsurprisingly given its status as the world’s most expensive housing market.

Young workers face the prospect of living with their family until they can afford to buy a small flat; ‘small’ often means less than 200 square feet.

At present, some developments described as co-living are no more than upmarket dormitories for budget-conscious students, while others are just shared apartments with different b…

Colliers International has reported that Asia’s property sector has been driven by economic growth and low real interest rates.

Higher trade flows and e-commerce will continue driving industrial and logistics property in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and India, with industrial property emerging as a key organised asset class across Asia.

Risks to this sector include a financial downturn affecting equity and bond markets, as well as reduced demand for leased central business district office space from large financial tenants due to faster-than-expected adoption of artificial intelligence and any subsequent workforce reduction programmes.

Forbes’ ranking of the top 10 Asian cities for real estate investment in descending order are Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh City, Tokyo, Taipei, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

Bangkok still offers decent value for money

Experts, however, point to a range of advantages which b…

Bangkok’s property market enjoyed strong growth in the first quarter of this year, led by a 35 per cent jump in the number of condominium units released in Bangkok from the year-earlier period.

Some 14,600 units were added to the market in the capital for the quarter,, said Surachet Kongchepp, a property market researcher with Surachet’s research showing that up to 66 per cent of the condominium launches are near mass transit systems.

This was especially evident in the area from Rama 9 Road to Huay Khwang, which saw 4,400 units released over the three months, he said. Up to 55 per cent of the units released in the period were sold, Surachet added.

Meanwhile, listed property companies have said their presales in the first quarter came in better than the numbers for the same period of last year. AP (Thailand) booked presales of Bt10 billion for the quarter, up 168 per cent from the same period of last year.

Of this take, up to 64 per cent …

On March 22, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum imposing tariffs as high as 25% on US$60 billion-worth of Chinese exports to the U.S.

In response, on April 2, China announced retaliatory tariffs worth around US$3 billion on a range of U.S. products.

While the move has sparked concerns of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies, its actual impact on the Chinese economy is likely to be minimal, given the small size of the tariffs – and the goods they pertain to – compared to China’s overall economy.

What does it mean for real estate?

U.S. and Chinese officials are now reported to be engaged in closed-door talks aimed at preventing a trade war. Any agreement is likely to accelerate the opening up of the Chinese economy in areas including financial services, electric vehicles, healthcare and elderly care, while providing incentives for foreign businesses investing in China.

CBRE Research believes t…

Hong Kong is learning from its all-time rival Singapore as it seeks to tame the city’s land prices.

In addition to the tender amount of the successful bidder in land sales, the Hong Kong government will now publish the amounts of all failing tender submissions, announced Secretary for Development Michael Wong in a media briefing for land sale programme in the new year.

Under the city’s previous land tender system, only the winning bid is revealed while the amounts of other bids submitted were not disclosed. Starting from April, after all transaction procedures for the successful bid are completed, the government will publish the amounts of the other tender submissions, though without identifying who made which offers.

“In view of the uniqueness of the property market, we think it may be a good time to increase the transparency of the market.”

Michael Wong, Secretary for Development,

The rule change …

Of the many infrastructure projects gaining traction in Bangkok, the Bang Sue Grand Central Station will probably be the most impactful.

Bang Sue Central Station (Thai: ???????????????? Sa-thanee Klang Bang Sue) or Bang Sue Grand Station is to be the new railway hub of Thailand, located in Chatuchak, Bangkok. It is to replace the currently in use Bangkok Railway Station at Hua Lamphong as the terminus for all long-distance rail services from Bangkok.

The station has been be submitted for Cabinet approval in 2017 and construction begun in 2018.The station will replace the existing Bang Sue Junction Railway Stationand incorporate Bang Sue MRT Station.

It will be the largest railway station in Southeast Asia with 171,000 m2 of total area. The 218-rai (35 hectares) area around the station will be developed as a business and commercial hub, in three zones.

With 26 platforms, the Bang Sue Grand Station is poised to be the la…

Vietnam’s real estate sector has witnessed significant participation from Japanese investors through cooperation with Vietnamese businesses recently, promising to bring benefits to the real estate market.

According to real estate company Savills Vietnam, over the past years, Asian investors, including Japanese ones, were only involved in commercial real estate like commercial centres, serviced apartments or office buildings.

However, at present, these investors are increasing their activity in the residential segment due to the country’s young population and an increasing middle class, presenting an extremely attractive opportunity.

Presence of big Japanese investors

Shinichi Sakaki, deputy general director of the City Bureau, at Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, said the Japanese Government now has policies to support real estate developers promoting investment abroad.

In addition, Japan has the experience of…

Bangkok’s real estate market has witnessed tremendous growth over the last five years. Since 2013, more than 300,000 new condo units have been launched, 1.3 million square metres of new retail space has opened and nearly 800,000 sqm of new office space has completed, not to mention healthy growth in the hospitality and logistics sectors.

In 2018, the underlying drivers of the recent growth cycle are changing and creating new challenges for the market’s leading players. Property consultancy JLL reveals some of the trends that are shaping the Bangkok real estate market this year.

Andrew Gulbrandson, Head of Research at JLL, says “Rapidly rising land costs continue to represent a significant challenge for the market today. The recent annual increases around the market of 10-15% per year are pushing developers in new directions.”

With only a handful of except…