News roundup: Australia’s Geelong development starts with sale of a church, and more news

For PropertyGuru’s real estate news roundup, the sale of the historic St George’s Presbyterian Church site will unlock a significant new development opportunity on the edge of Geelong’s CBD. In other news, roadblocks to credit accessibility, legal procedures, and demand-supply factors must be removed for the recovery of Vietnam’s real estate market, and APAC’s office sector is expected to reprice assets further throughout the remainder of 2024.

Sale of landmark city church unlocks key Geelong development site in Australia

The sale of the historic St George’s Presbyterian Church site is poised to unlock a significant new development opportunity on the edge of Geelong’s CBD. Listing agent Colliers has AUD18 million price expectations for the circa 1861 bluestone church and manse on the prominent corner of Ryrie St and La Trobe Tce.

realcommercial.com.au reports that the landmark 8317sq m property is identified as one of 11 strategic development sites in the Central Geelong Framework Plan and forms a key plank of the city’s cultural precinct. Under planning guidelines, the new owner could build up to 11 storeys, or 42m high, as part of a future development that must integrate the existing heritage-listed buildings.

Colliers sales and leasing executive Chris Nanni said it was an exciting opportunity to reshape that corner of the city that would likely attract national and international interest.

“It’s a pretty significant site because the State Government has earmarked it as one of just 11 key strategic sites as part of the Central Geelong Framework Plan,” Mr Nanni said.

Bottlenecks removed for recovery of Vietnam realty market: Experts

Roadblocks related to credit accessibility, legal procedures, and demand-supply factors must be removed to bolster the recovery of the real estate market, experts said at a forum held in Ho Chi Minh City on 29th May.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HOREA), as legal procedure bottlenecks account for 70 percent of the realty enterprises’ challenges, support from policy-makers, banks, and investors is necessary to develop the real estate market transparently and safely.

HORE Chairman Le Hoang Chau said in VietnamPlus that the Government has rolled out a wide range of policies to pull out obstacles for the market, highlighting that its approval for the early enforcement of the Land Law, Law on Housing and Law on Real Estate Business is significant to consolidate the quality of the market which has been mired in difficulties.

Chau expected that new regulations will positively impact the market recovery from the end of this year.

Asia Pacific office sector to further reprice throughout 2024

Based on new data by CBRE, outstanding senior commercial real estate debt in Asia Pacific totals at least USD257 billion, with a funding gap of USD8.4 billion expected between 2024 and 2026. This is a much narrower gap than investors in the other major regions.

The debt funding gap in Asia Pacific is relatively small, compared with Europe (USD191.4 billion) and the U.S. (USD157.3 billion), owing to the limited repricing in Asia Pacific when compared with other regions. This limits opportunities for distressed assets and Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) in the region. Australia faces the largest funding gap at USD4.6 billion, followed by mainland China at USD2.9 billion.

According to The World Property Journal, the office sector is expected to face the most significant gap, with further asset repricing anticipated throughout the remainder of 2024. This repricing will particularly affect secondary properties that are currently out of favour with tenants. However, distressed office acquisitions will be limited to selective markets.

The Property Report editors wrote this article. For more information, email: [email protected].