NatWest Beats Estimates on Signs of Growing Customer Confidence
NatWest Group Plc beat earnings estimates in the first quarter as lending and deposits increased amid signs of improving customer confidence.
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NatWest Group Plc beat earnings estimates in the first quarter as lending and deposits increased amid signs of improving customer confidence.
Singapore home prices grew at a slower pace last quarter and rents fell, as the city-state’s property boom began to lose steam.
Hong Kong home prices rose for the first time in almost a year in March as the city’s removal of property curbs revived sales.
Greater China’s property market crisis and the challenges it poses for lenders will be on full display on Monday, when embattled developer China Vanke Co. and the region’s biggest banks report earnings.
China’s overseas investment is heading for an eight-year high as its dominant firms build more factories abroad, a shift that could soften criticism of Beijing’s export drive.
Feb 23, 2020
Bloomberg News
,(Bloomberg) -- Bangkok’s condominium market, once a favorite of Chinese investors, faces a bleak year as the novel coronavirus outbreak keeps buyers away.
Foreigners are set to account for as little as 10% of purchases in 2020, down from a fifth two years ago, consultancy Agency for Real Estate Affairs estimates. Chinese buyers used to provide the bulk of overseas interest but are now hampered by the travel curbs and economic havoc sparked by the disease.
“The demand from foreigners may disappear in the first half following the outbreak,” said Sopon Pornchokchai, the consultancy’s president, adding that there are 100,000 vacant condominiums in and around Bangkok. “We’ll need to rely on local buyers, but that won’t be easy.”
The Bank of Thailand has loosened mortgage-lending rules to encourage domestic purchasers but developers remain wary. For instance, Naporn Sunthornchitcharoen, the chief executive of major Thai developer Land & Houses Pcl, last month said the firm is “afraid” of the condominium segment.
Even before the coronavirus spread from China, foreign interest was flagging as the outlook for an economy reliant on trade and tourism deteriorated amid currency strength in 2019 and the U.S.-China trade war.
Caution Reigns
Land & Houses doesn’t plan to open any new condominium projects this year. Another developer, Singha Estate Pcl, is “very cautious” about buying land for residential offerings because of concerns about an oversupply of property in certain locations, Head of Investor Relations Maysenee Ratnavijarn said.
The real estate sector slowdown is among the many challenges ahead for the Thai economy in 2020. Gross domestic product growth may slow to as little as 1.5% this year, a six-year low, a government agency forecast last week.
Thailand’s 55-member Property Development Index has tumbled about 19% in the past 12 months, worse than the 9% slide in the overall Thai stock market.
Developers are expected to bring about 6,000 new condominium units to the market in Bangkok in the first quarter of 2020, down 40% from a year earlier, according to Phattarachai Taweewong, associate director of Colliers International Group’s Thai unit.
“It’s tough situation in 2020,” Phattarachai said. “Hopefully the market can go back to balanced supply and demand again in the next three years.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Suttinee Yuvejwattana in Bangkok at suttinee1@bloomberg.net;Natnicha Chuwiruch in Bangkok at nchuwiruch@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sunil Jagtiani at sjagtiani@bloomberg.net, Suttinee Yuvejwattana
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.