One of my recent real estate reads was a South China Morning Post piece about a Hong Kong entrepreneur who is promoting crowd funding.
The founder of www.crowdbaron.com is Saeed Hassan who has put together a platform for buyers from Hong Kong who want to purchase London property.
Essentially the concept matches individuals with syndicated investment to give more bang for their bucks.
What's in it for Hassan is the asset management and eventual disposition of the property.
As Thailand's broad property book remains healthy much of the action has shifted outside of Bangkok and it's environs.
One geographic area capturing increasing attention is the Northeast area of the country.
Hot spots include Khon Kaen, Udonthani, Nakhon Ratchasima and the border areas.
Listed property developers and a growing sector of new commercial complexes are adding fuel by targeting aspiring middle class purchasers.
How deep is the market? It's hard to gauge in similar fashion to Phuket but for the moment speculative property buying remains a national pastime.
Upscale boutique resort Pavilions are bringing a third stage of hospitality led residences to the market.
With nine 3-bedroom pool villas and 33 apartments the Layan property is undertaking an initial launch in Hong Kong.
Tagged as The Pavilions Estate there is a non-mandatory hotel management option.
Hong Kong lawyer and entrepreneur Gordon Oldham is behind the development.
What's next for Bali: creativity and resilience required. The Bali Hotel and Branded Residences Update, released today by leading consulting groups C9 Hotelworks and Horwath HTL, highlights that Indonesia's domestic market continues to be the driving force behind Bali's tourism fortunes albeit at a slowing pace. On the flipside new hotel rooms are opening at a faster pace requiring developers and hoteliers to become increasingly creative to safeguard profitability.
Since 2008, domestic arrivals have more than doubled to the island while foreign arrivals have increased by less than 50%. An additional
0.5 million passengers arrived at Ngurah Rai airport in 2012, 80% of which were Indonesian. This represented a slowing of YOY increases to only 6%, down from around 20% annually since 2008.
One key knock on effect of the growing purchasing power of Indonesian's is reflected in the massive hospitality led residential market which is highly leveraged by domestic buyers from Jakarta and Surabaya. A heavy concentration of branded condominium hotel projects have induced real estate buyers who place a high value on usage of the product as well.
Indonesian buyers represent over 80% of the Bali's property transaction market but there are warning signs that sales pace is shrinking and the looming issue that once guaranteed returns roll off that investors may see yields shrink.
YTD June 2013, room night supply on the Island of Gods has further increased stifling performance. Figures to hand indicate that market-wide occupancy is down a few percentage points but to date hoteliers have remained steadfast on rate.
Commenting on the apparent supply and demand imbalance, continual annual increases of around 20% are unsustainable in Bali with total arrivals now approaching 9 million. Looking ahead to 2014, Bali should see further solid increases in arrivals from established and emerging markets, but the demand pace is likely to be outstripped by further large increases in supply. It is important now to remain strong on rates and tailor new supply to fill market gaps rather than using a scatter gun approach to development.
While the closely connected real estate market has continued to see market volume, one key segment to keep track of are the luxury hotel villas with brands such as Rosewood, Raffles, Fairmont and Jumeirah that are coming to market backed by strong Indonesian developers like Ciputra. Will these multi-million dollar properties be able to induce foreign buyers to Bali?
As for what's next for Bali? With a successful APEC done and dusted the island is now tasked with maintaining performance amidst slowing GDP growth, federal elections, a weakened currency and an increasingly urbanized tourism sector.
To download the report <link>https://c9hotelworks.com/downloads/bali-hotel-branded-residences-2013-11.pdf*CLICK</link>.
One of the key real estate talking points In South East Asia's largest economy Indonesia this year has centered on the possibility of a property bubble.
With depreciating currency, high inflation and downward pressure on natural resources the county has been able to sustain a degree of economic growth.
While mortgage rates are well into double-digit numbers, the rising middle class has been able to supply a steady supply of buyers.
Much of the sales traction is taking place outside of Jakarta in other key Indonesian cities.
As we move towards the end of 2013 it appears that all the talk about a bubble remains exactly that – talk.
At long last news in from Boat Avenue's developer that Villa Market will open on Friday December 20th.
With 1,200 square meters the Cherngtalay store is more than twice the size of the Chalong outlet.
There are other retail and food and beverage outlets that will be coming to Boat Avenue in the near future.
The Laguna Phuket area is experiencing a surge of new residential, commercial and hotel development which is expected to escalate next year.
Century Properties in the Philippines is continuing their luxury name game with the recent announcement of a tie up with Armani Casa interior design.
The group's new 60-story Century Spire condominium and office building features a series of areas designed by the Armani brand.
Launch selling process for the condominiums are nearly topping the US$5,500 per square meter market.
Branding is nothing new for Century who has previously enlisted names such as Trump, Starck and Paris Hilton to spice up residential offerings.
One of Asia's leading villa rental groups Elite Havens in Bali are on the expansion trail.
The latest move has been taking on a strategic interest in competitor Prestige Bali Villas.
Combined the two groups manage and market nearly 140 upscale and luxury villas in Bali, Lombok and other locations.
Elite also control the villa rental arm Marketing Villas Limited which has a large offering of properties in Thailand.
Thailand has topped the 2013 HSBC Expat survey as the best place to live.
More than 7,000 individuals participate in the annual survey.
While nearby Singapore is not far off Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia rank in double digits down the listing.
One of the lead takeaways from the market intelligence is that what drives expat motivation to move abroad continues to be the end game of a better lifestyle and financial prospects.
