PNT Reporter

03 May 2023

The Xinhua news agency recently reported that China has completed the construction of a national and integrated system for real estate registration, after a decade-long effort. This system will enhance the transparency of property ownership and assist the central government in monitoring the housing market. This move is viewed as significant by industry experts, who believe it will contribute to the healthy and sustainable growth of the country's extensive real estate industry. Additionally, a unified registration system could enable China to introduce a property tax in the future.Read more

PNT Reporter

02 May 2023

The primary unit of China Evergrande Group, known as GDA Real Estate, has announced that the owners of an 8.2-billion-yuan ($1.19 billion) bond will have a meeting to decide whether they will participate in the group’s offshore restructuring plan. This particular bond was originally due on July 8th but was extended by 12 months last year. If the owners agree to the proposal, it could be the first time onshore bonds are included in the restructuring plan.Read more

02 May 2023

Last week, the president of SM Prime Holdings Inc announced that the company is considering raising approximately $1 billion through the listing of its real estate investment trust (REIT) unit later this year. If successful, this IPO would be the largest of its kind in the Philippines. SM Prime is a developer of commercial properties such as malls and offices, and its IPO would compete with the record-breaking IPO of Monde Nissin Corp, a Philippine food manufacturer, which raised 48.6 billion pesos through its IPO in 2021.Read more

PNT Reporter

01 May 2023

Last week, China Evergrande Group announced that its subsidiary Hengda Real Estate Group and one of its directors would be sanctioned by stock exchanges for their failure to release their 2021 annual report. The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges reprimanded Hengda Real Estate and Qian Cheng, an executive director of China Evergrande Group, for not submitting the report before the deadline of April 30, 2022.Read more

PNT Reporter

28 Apr 2023

China's real estate sector faced significant challenges over the past year, with the downturn caused by reduced credit availability and the near bankruptcy of industry leader Evergrande. Despite this, the National Bureau of Statistics recently reported a significant increase in property prices in major cities across China, indicating a potential stabilization of the market. However, experts caution that the real estate sector may experience a slowdown in the future, as credit availability remains an issue, and the pandemic has caused anxiety among potential buyers.Read more

PNT Reporter

28 Apr 2023

A recent analysis by City Hall revealed that private landlords in England are receiving £1.6bn in housing benefits each year for providing non-decent homes. The problem is particularly severe in London, where £500m of welfare money is being spent on privately rented homes that are in poor condition and fail to meet health and safety standards. Tenants are also paying an additional £7.3bn annually to rent these inadequate homes from landlords. The government has yet to deliver on the reforms promised for the private rented sector in its 2019 manifesto, and while plans for a renter’s reform bill were announced last year, the bill has been delayed.Read more

PNT Reporter

27 Apr 2023

The construction of single-family homes in the US has increased for the second month in a row. The Northeast, Midwest, and South regions experienced an increase in single-family housing, but the West saw a decline. Further, permits for future construction have also seen a significant rise, signalling a positive outlook for the struggling housing market. The rise is attributed to buyers taking advantage of lower mortgage rates. However, the housing market still faces challenges such as high input and labour costs for builders, as well as expensive financing options for buyers.Read more

PNT Reporter

27 Apr 2023

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) in Canada has released its first annual risk outlook report, identifying potential threats to the country's financial system in the fiscal year until March 31, 2024. According to the report, the two main risks are the possibility of a decline in the housing market and the challenge of adapting to sudden rises in interest rates. Other risks include the growth of unregulated non-bank financial institutions, climate-related risks, cyber-attacks, and hazards arising from emerging technologies.Read more

PNT Reporter

26 Apr 2023

Spain and Portugal, two of the poorest countries in western Europe, are looking to tackle the issue of soaring property costs by using a “bad bank” created during Spain’s most recent financial crisis to build up to 50,000 units of public housing. Spain’s Cabinet is set to approve a plan that would increase the number of public homes by 17% using properties from its bad bank. The Portuguese Government has approved plans to invest €2.4bn in public housing by the end of 2026 and presented a housing bill to parliament last week that would allow the state to convert vacant private properties into social housing.Read more

PNT Reporter

26 Apr 2023

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that new home prices rose by 0.5% month-on-month in March, following a 0.3% increase in February. This marks the highest rate of growth since June 2021 and the third consecutive monthly increase. This is a positive indication of the market slowly recovering from it slump with the help of various supportive policies introduced by the government in the last year to tackle the crisis. However, the extent of this upward trend’s momentum remains uncertain.Read more