Chinese Real Estate Los Angeles: Downtown Condo Market Cools as Foreign and Domestic Investors Pull Back

China-funded development of super luxury Metropolis condo highrise with Indigo hotel

REAL ESTATE NEWS

The LA Loft Blog recently reported that Chinese companies are pulling out of Downtown Los Angeles as real estate developer Greenland decides not to complete the last building in the Metropolis condo complex. As other expensive projects are shelved amid construction non-payment lawsuits, mainland China cannot hide its economic woes. OceanWide Plaza megaproject sits uncompleted while financially strapped Mainland China developer quietly seeks a buy-out.

Bloomberg reported recently that Los Angeles condo sales have cooled as Chinese capital stays at home. The #realestate market in downtown Los Angeles is taking a hit as #chinese cash dries up. Condo sales plunged 31% in the third quarter from a year earlier. Chinese and other foreign buyers had made more than 25% of the purchases in downtown Los Angeles in recent years, but tightened restrictions on capital flowing out of China have recently hampered the market. As the trade war between the U.S. and China approaches its second anniversary, Beijing is making it tougher to shift money abroad, imposing capital controls to help stabilize its currency. That’s weighed on the real estate market in cities including #losangeles, New York City, San Francisco and Vancouver.

California Condos Cooling

Bloomberg reports confirm earlier Loft Blog articles on Downtown L.A. condo prices having fallen from a peak in early 2018. Restaurants, shopping, entertainment and transportation infrastructure has attracted nearly 50,000 new residents since 2000. Tens of thousands of new homes have been built, while thousands of new apartment and condos are still under construction. This includes thousands of new luxury high-rise units. These expensive upscale condos are suffering the most as mainland China is hit hard by communist capital controls, tariff battles and economic uncertainty. Investors and other prospective home buyers don’t like the value of today’s relatively high Downtown condo prices.

China’s Fake Economy

The South China Morning Post reported that China is proving to be mired in significant inaccurate financial reporting. China’s economic census has uncovered bunches of fake data. As China’s cash has dried, corporate has borrowing soared. Local Chinese officials of Guanghan and other areas have been found to have gone to extraordinary lengths to manipulate raw data to obscure the real financial health of the economy. They reported growth of 9% while the real growth was likely closer to 0%.

American’s and other financial connections have access to some of the true data, which gets easier to see as the financial tide goes down to reveal the naked truth of financial struggles.

CNBC reports that China’s corporate borrowing has shot up while cash flows deteriorate. China’s cash flows have deteriorated quickly, and new orders continue to fall. Shadow banking is making a resurgence as the CPC Communist Party of China attempts new crackdowns on bankers. China’s cash flows have rapidly deteriorated recently as fourth quarter 2019 late payables and deliverables skyrocketed to the worst levels ever recorded. China’s woes are likely to worsen before the get better because new orders continue to fall. Corporate borrowing has risen to unprecedented rates as business loan applications in China shot to an all-time high, with more than 30% of manufacturing, retail, services and real estate developers needing to borrow money.

China’s communist dictator always has plenty of lowly individuals to pin the blame on. Several bankers have been sentenced to death recently.

Trade War Affecting China, Reviving Trend of Shadow Banking

Borrowing rose in every sector this quarter. China saw overall export orders fall in the second half of 2019, as American tariffs on Chinese goods took effect. With the U.S. and China entering a trade truce this December, the President Trump’s Phase One China deal is expected to help reduce China’s economic freefall.

Mainland stocks tumble as China cut tariffs on over 850 products

CNBC reports that mainland Chinese stocks have been tumbling. The Shanghai Composite is down more than 10% since February 2018, and down more than 25% from its peak in May 2015. China just announced a few days ago that it will lower import tariffs on over 850 products as part of the Phase One trade deal talks. The trade war armistice may be too little too late for China. The communist-backed semiconductor fund has announced plans to reduce holdings in some tech firms, according to a Reuters report. Tech stocks, then broader stocks have just dropped.

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Arson fire / flood inconveniences super luxury Metropolis residents, as developer runs dry

Copyright © This free information provided courtesy L.A. Loft Blog and LAcondoInfo.com with information provided by Corey Chambers, Realty Source Inc, BRE#01889449 We are not associated with the homeowner’s association or developer. For more information, contact (213) 880-9910 or visit LAcondoInfo.com Licensed in California. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Properties subject to prior sale or rental. This is not a solicitation if buyer or seller is already under contract with another broker.

China Leaves California Real Estate – OceanWide Plaza Quits

After financial struggle to build the Downtown plaza megaproject, OceanWide calls it quits

REAL ESTATE NEWS

Downtown Los Angeles has gained substantially by China citizens moving their money into L.A. real estate. That has been changing recently as China begins to go broke, enacting policies of capital controls preventing cash from leaving China for the U.S. China’s economic growth rate just hit a 30-year low as China’s exports are in free-fall. Because China cooks its books so thoroughly, the most accurate assessment of China is its foreign transactions. More accurate books are held by foreign nations that do business with China. Those books show that China’s actual growth is only 1/3 as much as the communist government claims. Even more accurate measurement of China is derived by looking at how it is paying its foreign bills. Last year, we learned that the China-based developers of Downtown’s huge OceanWide Plaza complex were late in paying builder Lendlease, which had to sue OceanWide in court. This week, the LA Loft Blog has learned that OceanWide plaza has been quietly put up for sale because OceanWide has been unable to raise the cash to complete the project. | VIDEO

Chinese conglomerate Oceanwide Holdings appears to be looking for a swift exit from some of the largest real estate markets in the U.S.

The Beijing developer is now trying to sell a portfolio of U.S. projects that includes Oceanwide Center in San Francisco and Oceanwide Plaza in Los Angeles. The report comes approximately eight months after it reportedly resumed construction on its once-stalled, $1B LA megadevelopment, which paused work amid financing issues. Australian multinational Lendlease is the general contractor for the LA project. It turned out that the resumed construction reports were not quite true. The project has been stalled for most of 2018 and 2019.

OceanWide Plaza New Construction Halts

Bloomberg had reported a while back that OceanWide Plaza construction halted as the developer attempted to get more financing: L.A.’s $1 Billion Trophy Tower Halted as China Pulls Back.  Oceanwide Plaza has stuck in limbo as developer scurried to find a loan. The subcontractor pressed on with a lawsuit over unpaid work.  #losangeles #realestate #market 

Construction delays in Los Angeles are common and expected, but the delays are usually only days or weeks at a time, often stemming from the City of Los Angeles big bureaucracy and red tape. The L.A. Loft Blog pointed out that this delay was different.  For the OceanWide Plaza and Metropolis projects, China’s slide into money woes was bound to lead to months, perhaps years of sluggish progress.  #oceanwide

In an earlier L.A. Loft Blog post, we reported on the delays of the mammoth OceanWide Plaza condominium / hotel / shopping center project that appears to be more serious, and likely rooted in China’s overall economic downturn and resulting monetary problems for associated developers and builders.

Another new luxury tower is also affected: Further along in construction (with three of the four buildings already completed), the super-luxury Metropolis condo complex is also part of the same or similar lawsuit.  The U.S. economy is part of the problem.  Recently, the Metropolis developer has been holding the line, even reversing its planned price hikes, due to the cooling real estate market of Los Angeles. Recently, a man set several hallway wall paintings on fire in Metropolis, results moderate damage and evacuation of several floors. A suspect has been arrested, likely a homeless man who was possibly acting out of jealousy against the super luxury building.  #metropolis #construction #delay #lawsuit

Los Angeles real estate news websites TheRealDeal.com and ConstructionDive.com report that Webcor sues Greenland for millions in alleged unpaid fees.  In the suit, San Francisco-based Webcor says China-controlled company Greenland is in breach of contract for $9.8 million.

Major construction firm Webcor filed its claim in the form of a mechanic’s lien.  If Webcor is successful, then OceanWide will not be able to complete and sell it’s units without Webcor getting paid first. Check out Vernon Martin’s article with more details about OceanWide Plaza’s troubles

It’s hard to get truthful news from the communist party of China. OceanWide’s pullout is the most accurate measurement of the actual nature of China’s true cash position. At the same time, Downtown Los Angeles has its own money issues. The median price for condos in Downtown LA has dropped by more than 4% over the last 12 months and the number active buyers dropped by 75%. While the DTLA real estate market downturn is not likely the root cause, the local market has certainly reduced the incentive for OceanWide developers to raise their risk exposure.

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OceanWide Plaza developer throws in the towel on Downtown Los Angeles

Copyright © This free information provided courtesy L.A. Loft Blog and LAcondoInfo.com with information provided by Corey Chambers, Realty Source Inc, BRE#01889449 We are not associated with the homeowner’s association or developer. For more information, contact (213) 880-9910 or visit LAcondoInfo.com Licensed in California. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Properties subject to prior sale or rental. This is not a solicitation if buyer or seller is already under contract with another broker.