Sekisui House REIT Buys Greater Tokyo Apartments and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Sekisui House president and CEO Yoshihiro Nakai

Sekisui House REIT is adding three residential assets to its portfolio as 2024 nears an end, with those transactions leading today’s headline roundup. Also making the list, OUE REIT completes the disposal of a Shanghai office tower and Keppel DC REIT closes on its purchase of two data centres.

Japan’s Sekisui House REIT Adds Greater Tokyo Apartments to Portfolio
Tokyo-listed Sekisui House REIT announced on 27 December that it has decided to acquire three residential properties in prefectures surrounding the Japanese capital for a combined JPY 2.9 billion ($18 million).

The purchase of two apartment blocks in Saitama prefecture and a third in Kanagawa is being made at a 3.2 percent yield after depreciation, based on net property income, according to a statement by the REIT’s manager. Read more>>

OUE REIT Completes $263M Sale of Shanghai’s Lippo Plaza
Just one week after announcing an agreement to sell Lippo Plaza in Shanghai, OUE REIT has completed its disposal of the 30-year-old office building, according to a statement to the SGX.

The Singapore-listed REIT had informed the bourse on 20 December that it had agreed to sell the tower on Shanghai’s Huaihai Road for RMB 1.92 billion ($263 million), with market sources having identified the buyer as a unit of Beijing Capital Financial Holding, the government investment fund of China’s capital city. Read more>>

Keppel DC REIT Closes on $1B Buy of Singapore Data Centres
The manager of Keppel DC REIT informed the Singapore Exchange on Friday that it has completed its acquisition of a pair of data centres from its sponsor after conducting a private placement and preferential offering to fund the purchase.

The SGX-listed REIT had announced its S$1.38 billion ($1 billion) purchase of Keppel DC Singapore 7 and Keppel DC Singapore 8 in the city-state’s Geylang area in mid-November. Read more>>

Distressed Sales of Hong Kong Offices Set to Accelerate in 2025
Hong Kong’s office property market is likely to see more distressed sales in the medium term, as banks will need to call loans amid soft demand for office space, according to analysts.

From their peak in October 2018, prices of prime office space in the city’s main business zones of Sheung Wan/Central, Wan Chai/Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui declined by more than 46 percent as of November, according to the latest data from the Rating and Valuation Department. Read more>>

Hong Kong Home Prices Back to Flat in November
Hong Kong’s home prices were largely flat in November, in an early sign that the struggling property market could bottom out after interest rate cuts and other supportive measures.

Home prices in Hong Kong, one of the world’s most unaffordable cities, have tumbled nearly 30 percent from their 2021 peak, hurt by higher mortgage rates, an outflow of professionals and a weak market outlook. Read more>>

Goodman Stock Soars as Data Centres Become 42% of Construction Pipeline
Goodman Group’s stock has been on a hot streak this year, shining bright among its Australian real estate peers as the artificial intelligence boom has driven frenzied demand for data centres.

Goodman, the country’s biggest developer, counts the world’s largest hyperscalers as its customers, its website says, but the company did not confirm the identities of its customers in response to Reuters. This has sent its stock flying 45.8 percent higher this year, positioning Goodman for its best performance since 2006. It is also the Australian real estate index’s top performer. Read more>>

India’s Lemon Tree Hotels Opens New Location in Mumbai
Indian hospitality group Lemon Tree Hotels is expanding its footprint with a new property in Bapane Village, Vasai municipality, part of the Mumbai metropolitan region.

The upcoming hotel will be managed by Carnation Hotels, a subsidiary of Lemon Tree Hotels, and is scheduled to open in financial 2026. The company now has a portfolio exceeding 210 hotels, including over 110 operational properties and more than 90 upcoming hotels across India and internationally. Read more>>

Tokyo’s 3% Office Vacancy Seen Boosting Appeal With Investors
Tokyo is bustling. Office vacancy rates in the Asian city are around 3 percent, sharply lower than 15 percent for New York and 8 percent for London. Japan’s rising appeal to financiers, tourists and global buyout firms alike, plus its enduring low interest rates, will underpin another strong year for its commercial property market.

Total transaction volume in real estate, including offices, hotels and logistics, stood at $23.6 billion in the first half of 2024, per MSCI, the highest level since the global index compiler began collating such data in 2007. That’s up nearly 30 percent from the first half of 2022. Capital and income returns are eye-catching too. Read more>>

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