The week in real estate: Asia’s ultra wealthy, Apple’s new London HQ and more

A round-up of the biggest property news from around the world

How many ultra-wealthy are there in Asia?

Who’s moving to Malaysia’s London redevelopment project?

Which restaurateurs are venturing into community malls in the Philippines?

Read on to find out…

New research

Knight Frank Prime Global Rent Index: Q2 2016

Prime rents in Tokyo are growing the fastest in Asia, Knight Frank revealed in its latest Prime Global Rental Index. With a 9 percent year-on-year growth in the year to June, the Japanese capital trails only Moscow as the world’s fastest-growing place for luxury rentals. Guangzhou was ranked third worldwide, with a 4.8 percent growth in the year to June.

World Ultra Wealth Report

According to the latest edition of Wealth-X’s World Ultra Wealth Report, the exceptionally well-to-do in Asia and the Pacific are outpacing their peers elsewhere in wealth growth. Between 2014 and 2015, ultra-wealth in Asia-Pacific grew 3.9 percent to USD7.8 trillion as the affluent benefited from dynamic business expansion and economic growth rates that still surpass those in the west. There are now about 212,615 ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals, or those with USD30 million or more in net assets, worldwide.

Country news

Hong Kong

A new co-working space provider, which bills itself the “Expedia of offices,” will offer flexible rates for its offices and hot desks in Causeway Bay. Office leases and other overhead costs cause the average monthly rent paid by companies per employee in Hong Kong to soar to HKD10,000 (USD1,300), but with a six-person office and four hot desks on The Work Project, for example, that number can drop to HKD6,600 (USD850) a month for 10 employees.

Myanmar

Now that President Barack Obama publicly vowed to lift remaining US economic sanctions from Myanmar, property experts expect an influx of expatriates into the formerly junta-led country’s housing market.

Philippines

Real estate loans released by financial institutions in the Philippines reached PHP1.138 trillion (USD23.6 billion) in the first six months of this year, an almost 20 percent jump from the same period last year. Analysts allayed fears that the property market is at imminent risk of a bubble.

Meanwhile, shares of Double Dragon, the company formed by two of the country’s most successful fast-food moguls, recently hovered at 59 pesos.

Singapore

Sing Development and Wee Hur Development jointly edged out competitors in the government tender of a site along Fernvale Road in Sengkang area.

On the other hand, a Singapore-based private-equity real estate firm is planning to fund-raise USD1 billion by early next year, in response to a stronger clamour worldwide for real estate and other assets than bonds.

UAE

As the weakening crude oil market continues to wreak havoc on the UAE economy, residential rental values in its two largest emirates are veering in different directions. Average rental prices across Dubai fell 5 percent to AED54,000 (USD14,700) between July and August, while those in Abu Dhabi hopped 3 percent to AED 130,000 (USD35,400).

UK

Khan will order “the most thorough research” into foreign ownership of London properties. “It’s clear we need to better understand the different roles that overseas money plays in London’s housing market, the scale of what’s going on, and what action we can take to support development and help Londoners find a home,” he said.

Battersea Power Station, the iconic coal power plant being redeveloped by a Malaysian consortium, has scored its biggest tenant yet: Apple. Employees will move in by 2021.

Source: Property Report