Asia Pacific
While the success of Asia Pacific governments in containing the spread of COVID-19 has helped limit its impact on local real estate markets, concerns are growing that a correction may be in the cards next year, according to the Emerging Trends in Real Estate ® Asia Pacific 2021report. Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney continue to rank as the top three markets for investment and development prospects in the region.
Well-prepared food of practically any cuisine you can imagine, delivered to you with the help of busy drones and robots. In the not-too-distant future, this could be an everyday reality for people in cities all over the world, said a speaker at the the ULI Asia Pacific Leadership Convivium.
Office workers across the Asia Pacific region are returning to the office at varying paces, taking into consideration government directives and company policies. Though the permanent impact of remote working remains to be seen, landlords will need to innovate and adapt to a changed environment, said participants in ULI Asia Pacific’s latest FutuRE of Cities and Communities webinar.
ULI MEMBER-ONLY CONTENT: The tendency to isolate yourself from the outside world by sheltering at home could be an enduring effect of the coronavirus pandemic, Miki Tsusaka, managing director and senior partner in the Tokyo office of Boston Consulting Group, said in early September at ULI Asia Pacific’s REImagine conference.
Global growth in e-commerce spurred by the coronavirus pandemic is boosting investor interest in a “new economy” asset class dominated by data centers and logistics facilities, speakers said in early September at a session during the ULI Asia Pacific REImagine conference.
ULI MEMBER–ONLY CONTENT: Every major global economy except Mainland China will see a decline in growth this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, said Janet Henry, chief global economist at HSBC, as part of ULI’s REImagine event.
ULI MEMBER–ONLY CONTENT: Hong Kong real estate developer Adrian Cheng is investing heavily in China’s emerging Greater Bay Area, touted as the up-and-coming Silicon Valley and Wall Street of the East. During ULI Asia Pacific’s virtual REimagine conference, Cheng said that his company now controls a land bank of about 290 hectares (nearly 717 acres) in the region.
ULI MEMBER–ONLY CONTENT: The global COVID-19 pandemic promises to accelerate the adoption of property technology (proptech), which lies at the intersection of the roughly $230 trillion global property sector and the nearly $3.4 trillion global technology sector, speakers said in early September during the virtual ULI Asia Pacific REimagine conference.
Thirteen outstanding real estate development projects have been selected as winners of the 2020 ULI Asia Pacific Awards for Excellence. The winners, each of which demonstrates a comprehensive level of quality and a forward-looking approach to development and design, include four projects in China, two in Hong Kong, two in Australia, two in Singapore, and one each in India, Japan, and New Zealand.
Themes of identity, governmental responsibility, and local empowerment in cities were discussed by a small group of experts during a May 20 webinar hosted by ULI Asia Pacific. While the discussion leaders each offered their own talking points, all agreed that governance and design play crucial roles in the establishment of a modern community.
Singapore
Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority has transformed Marina Bay into mixed-use urban neighborhood. public open space, and source of drinking water for the country’s 5.4 million residents.
A new report draws upon Singapore’s successful urbanization experience. Despite its population density, the city-state has consistently ranked favorably in various surveys measuring the livability and sustainability of cities around the globe.
As cities become denser, the cost of high-density parking begins to pencil out for developers—which is when the development of parking that automatically stores and retrieves cars becomes attractive.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is famous for its hospitality industry, but the sector has been under fire for the past three years. Even so, the hotel and food and beverage (F&B) industries have shown resilience and adaptability said panelists during a ULI Hong Kong conference in September.
The Hong Kong government’s recent decision to embrace a new tendering process for the sale of a prime parcel of waterfront land adjoining the Central business district marks a welcome departure from longstanding policy. In the past, such tenders were invariably awarded to the highest bidder without regard to the quality of the proposed development. Now, however, use of a “two-envelope” approach to sell the plot, known as Site 3, means that design also becomes part of the equation.
Communities around the world are racing to control the spread of the novel coronavirus and the disease that it causes, COVID-19. Increasingly, that means implementing aggressive social distancing measures, which can inhibit the spread of the virus and flatten the transmission curve. Given what is known about the virus so far, using building strategies to help slow the spread of the disease makes sense to help protect those who must work in an office or commercial setting and in multifamily settings.