23 Feb 2023

An unauthorised border crossing south of Montreal has recently seen an increase in asylum seekers coming from the US into Canada's second-most populous province. While Canada's open immigration policy exacerbates a housing scarcity, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is under pressure to tighten border controls. Public services cannot accommodate all the influx as parts of the country already suffers problems with housing, enrolment in schools and shortage of hospital staff. Even though the government has promised to double the rate of housing development, there is a huge gap between demand and availability.Read more

23 Feb 2023

India's Hiranandani Group-owned Yotta Data Services has announced its partnership with Bangladesh's Shamsul Alamin Group (SAG) to aid in the growth and expansion of its business in the country. Yotta has committed to an investment of over Tk2000 crore to develop its Hyperscale Data Centre Park in Dhaka in the next 4-6 years. The park will feature two hyperscale data centre buildings with 4800 racks and 28.8MW IT power capacity. The first data centre building is slated to go live in Q3 of FY2024.Read more

22 Feb 2023

Hong Kong's government is facing criticism over its $3.4 billion temporary housing plan aimed at easing the city's chronic housing shortage. Hong Kong's Chief Executive, John Lee, pledged to construct 30,000 units of 'Light Public Housing' within five years, with the hope of reducing the waiting time for public housing from six years to four and a half years. However, critics have slammed the scheme as a 'band-aid solution' and have questioned its high cost. The scheme has also been criticized for its proposed location. Some of the planned sites are in faraway urban areas, making the homes inaccessible to many people.Read more

22 Feb 2023

Real estate firm Ivanhoé Cambridge and property management company Mapletree have formed a strategic partnership to develop, own and operate technology-focused workplaces in India. The joint investment platform has a capacity of over CAD 2.5bn ($1.97bn) and the partners have already identified properties and projects to meet this target. The investment strategy will focus on development of Grade A office assets in key economic hubs.Read more

21 Feb 2023

Vanke Co Ltd, a major property company in China, intends to raise as much as CNY 15 billion ($2.2 billion) by offering a private placement of it’s shares. This capital increase is aimed at financing 11 real estate projects and increasing its capital reserves. The company stated in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange that it aims to sell up to 1.1 billion A-shares, which is equivalent to 9.46% of its total share capital, to up to 35 potential investors.Read more

20 Feb 2023

The City of Helsinki, Finland has initiated a bidding process to sell the historic Old Customs House in Katajanokka for redevelopment purposes. The tender competition was initiated after the Urban Environment Committee gave its approval for the same. The deadline for submitting the tenders is April 28, 2023. Potential bidders are required to present a versatile plan for the building with functions such as business spaces, offices, workspaces, restaurants, meeting rooms, or art and cultural facilities.Read more

13 Feb 2023

Max Ventures & Industries Limited (MaxVIL) recently completed the acquisition of the remaining 2.39% equity share capital of Acreage Builders Private Limited (ABPL) for an enterprise value of INR 322.50 crores, making ABPL a step-down wholly owned subsidiary of the company. New York Life Insurance joined as an equity investor, committing INR 290 crores in ABPL. As a result, MEL and New York Life will be 51:49 shareholders, respectively, in ABPL, which holds a license to develop a commercial project covering 7.15 acres. The project has a revenue potential of INR 160-200 million per year and is located at Golf Course Extension Road in Gurugram.Read more

08 Feb 2023

Dubai has seen a surge in the number of branded residential projects in the latter half of 2022, and this trend is expected to continue as demand from international high-net-worth buyers continues to boom. At the end of the year, there were a total of 71 branded residence schemes in Dubai, including well-known luxury brands such as Lamborghini, Armani, Bulgari, and Four Seasons. This is a significant increase of 22% compared to the first half of the year and an additional 42 branded residences are currently under construction.Read more

07 Feb 2023

Brookfield Asset Management, a Canadian alternatives asset manager, is in negotiations with Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, to sell half of its stake in a special purpose vehicle that holds its office assets in Powai, Mumbai. The 4.2 million square feet of office and retail space was acquired by Brookfield in 2016 from the Hiranandani group for $1 billion in one of the largest real estate deals at the time. GIC was among the interested parties in the race for the assets, along with other global investors like Blackstone Inc.Read more

20 Dec 2022

The Michaels Organisation has been commissioned by Disney to create an affordable housing project containing 1,300 units on an 80-acre land parcel which is a part of Disney World’s Land. Only those individuals who fall within a certain income bracket will be able to apply. The company hopes this new initiative will help ease the looming housing crisis in the state while creating new jobs in Central Florida via construction and operational activities needed for the project. Disney will collaborate with The Michael’s Organisation on construction and design.Read more