British office building sale sets new record
Madrid-based real estate company Metrovacesa acquired the 45-story London headquarters of HSBC Holdings at 8 Canada Square for a record $2.2 billion last month. It was the highest price ever paid for a British office building. The previous record was $1.37 billion, paid in 2003 by the Royal Bank of Scotland for Citigroup’s London headquarters, the International Herald Tribune reported.
HSBC, Europe’s largest bank by market value, will lease back the 1.1-million-square-foot building designed by architect Sir Norman Foster for more than $86 million per year.
Central London now has the world’s priciest office spaces for lease, and investors bought nearly $30.3 billion worth of real estate in the area last year. Average rents for offices in the City of London increased by more than 18 percent to $109 per square foot.
Spanish island sees growth in property values
Spain’s Ibiza has earned a worldwide reputation as a party destination, but its sister island of Majorca has seen considerable real estate price appreciation in recent years. According to real estate firm Kuhn & Partner, property values on the island increased by 214 percent since 1999.
Said to receive 300 days of sun a year, Majorca has long attracted international buyers and is especially well regarded in Germany and England, according to the International Herald Tribune.
Son Vida, near the capital of Palma, is popular among buyers. Two-bedroom, 1,500-square-foot apartments start at around $1 million, and four-bedroom, 5,500-square-foot villas go for around $2.5 million. In Andratx, an exclusive area another 20 minutes’ drive away, villas currently on the market range from $1.2 million to $33 million.
Hotel developers target downtown Kuala Lumpur
The 384-room Westin Hotel in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was recently purchased by a Thai investment firm for a record 455 million ringgit, or almost $134 million. The sale broke the million-ringgit-per-room barrier, making it the highest price ever paid in the city for a hotel, the International Herald Tribune reported.
Investors are increasingly targeting the downtown hotel market in Malaysia’s capital city, even though the low value of the ringgit and the large number of hotels have contributed to lower room rates across the city. But experts remain optimistic about the market’s future as developer interest rises.
Asian property groups are bidding for the 921-room Renaissance Kuala Lumpur and the 576-room Crown Princess KL. The Regent Kuala Lumpur is being renovated to reopen as a Four Seasons. Other big international hotel chains like W Hotels and Grand Hyatt are looking into development opportunities.
World’s largest mall languishes in South China
The South China Mall, the world’s largest shopping center, is struggling to lure consumers and tenants, the International Herald Tribune reported. The mall is located in Dongguan, a southern Chinese city of 6 million about two hours north of Hong Kong, populated mostly by factory workers, many of whom cannot afford to shop there.
The 9.6-million-square-foot mall has three levels of retail spread out on 220 acres, more than twice the size of the biggest shopping center in the U.S., the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Developers had initially expected to attract 100,000 shoppers daily. But, more than a year after the mall’s opening, only 10,000 are reported to visit per day. China claims seven of the world’s 20 largest shopping centers.