With $9.6 billion of reported direct CRE investment in the first half of 2011, according to Jones Lang Lasalle, mainland China remains the focal point of Asia Pacific CRE investment despite government attempts to cut off the domestic debt supply. Alongside three interest rate increases and higher reserve requirements for big lenders, Chinese authorities last year placed direct limits on banks’ advances to developers while provincial governments have increased stamp-duty type levies on buyers, says Nick Crockett, head of corporate finance at JLL Asia in Singapore. With the domestic debt spigot shut off, where is the money for new projects coming from? ...
