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Bloomberg Singapore’s real estate investment trust market is set to consolidate as smaller vehicles merge to cope with rising regulatory costs, according to Cambridge Industrial Trust. “The wave of consolidation for Singapore REITs is about to begin,” Philip Levinson, chief executive officer at Singapore-listed Cambridge Industrial, said. The trust has a market capitalization of S$730.5 million ($536 million) and focuses ...

Bloomberg Strength in real estate and labor markets helped consumers in China’s biggest cities shrug off last year’s slowdown, according to a new survey based on 12,000 interviews. RFi Group’s Urban Financial Sentiment Index rose to 101 in the second half of 2015, up from 92.5 in the first half. Readings over 100 show consumers say they’re optimistic about their ...

Bloomberg Canada will allocate C$500,000 ($383,000) to the country’s data collection agency to develop ways to determine foreign ownership levels in the country’s hot housing markets. “Currently it is not possible to fully understand the role of foreign homebuyers in Canada’s housing market since a comprehensive and reliable data set on the number of homes sold to foreign homebuyers does ...

Bloomberg Property investors London & Regional Group Holdings Ltd. and Chelsfield Partners LLP are considering selling one of the most valuable development sites in the U.K. capital, with an asking price of about 300 million pounds ($427 million), according to three people familiar with the matter. Various options are being considered for the Elizabeth House plot in the Waterloo district, ...

NEW YORK / Reuters Macy’s Inc appointed William Lenehan, an expert in real estate investments, to its board amid investor pressure to monetize its real estate assets. Shareholder Starboard Value LP has been pressuring Macy’s since July to spin off its real estate assets, which the hedge fund estimates are valued at about $21 billion. The assets include Macy’s landmark ...

BEIJING / Reuters China’s campaign to slim down its bloated industries could be derailed by more than $1.5 trillion of debt in its steel, coal, cement and non-ferrous metal sectors, which threatens to overwhelm local banks. Tackling industrial overcapacity has become a priority for Beijing to make its slowing economy more efficient and address a supply glut that has hammered ...

SHANGHAI / Reuters The World Bank has approved a $500 million loan to China to support financing of projects to help control air pollution in and around Beijing. The money is part of a broader programme expected to reach $1.4 billion for “green financing” over the next six years that includes another half billion dollars from Hua Xia Bank Co ...

TOKYO / Reuters Japan’s government lowered its assessment of the economy in March for the first time in five months due to weakness in consumer spending, a move likely to reinforce views that more fiscal stimulus will be needed to keep the economy growing. Some of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s advisers and prominent overseas economists have been calling for Japan ...

Kuala Lumpur / DPA The growth prospects of Asean major export-orientated economies of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are expected to remain weaker than its domestic demand-driven economies, says Moody’s Investors Service. The international ratings agency said that hence growth outlook of Asean economies was likely to diverge in 2016 and 2017, against the backdrop of subdued global demand. A Moody’s ...

New Delhi / Bloomberg Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi risks a political backlash among the middle class as he seeks to coax banks into lowering interest rates. Criticism is growing against his government’s move last week to slash interest rates on small savings programs used by as much as a third of India’s 1.3 billion people. Banks have long cited ...