China’s loss is Singapore’s gain in UK property

HONG KONG: Brexit worries may be damping sentiment in Europe but in Asia, real-estate investors don’t appear too concerned.

While Chinese purchasers of London property have put away their wallets as capital controls bite, buyers from Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea are picking up the slack.

Victor Li, who succeeded his billionaire father Li Ka-shing as head of the CK group of companies, purchased UBS Group AG’s headquarters in the City of London financial district for £1bil (US$1.3bil) earlier this month, while Singapore’s Ho Bee Land Ltd splashed £650mil on a 21-story office building called Ropemaker Place.

In March, a venture between South Korea’s Mirae Asset Daewoo Co and NH Investment & Securities Co bought Cannon Bridge House for £248mil, while the Mirae group (which owns Mirae Asset) last month acquired a £340mil building from Blackstone Group LP.

Korea Investment & Securities Co last week successfully bid for a 15-story office building for £200.5mil.

According to CBRE Research, London office buildings worth £7.23bil have changed hands this year, with buyers from Asia accounting for 60% of the action, the most ever in a half-yearly time frame.

It’s a marked shift from 2014 and 2015, when China was the biggest source of Asian buying in London.

Now, conglomerates like Dalian Wanda Group Co are in exit mode. (There’s been only one big China deal this year Beijing’s purchase of an office complex on the edge of the City of London’s financial district for its new embassy.)

Taking the crown to a large extent are investors from Hong Kong, snapping up iconic buildings such as The Cheesegrater at 122 Leadenhall Street and the Walkie Talkie, which set a new record for a single UK office site. — Bloomberg