Headlines

New Zealand home prices edged lower in August, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) said on Tuesday, as prospective buyers remained cautious despite aggressive interest rate cuts from the central bank to spur the economy, Reuters reported. Seasonally adjusted median house prices dipped 1.3% from July, and were 0.5% lower on the previous year, REINZ data showed. Seasonally adjusted national home sales fell 4.5% from July, but were up 0.6% from August 2024. "Across New Zealand, confidence in the property market is tempered with caution," REINZ Chief Executive Lizzy Ryley said.

A long-awaited sale hearing expected to complete a U.S. court-organized auction of shares in the parent of Venezuela-owned U.S. refiner Citgo Petroleum is set to begin on Monday, with bidders and creditors locked in a bitter dispute over who should win, Reuters reported. The Delaware court will hear testimony from the involved parties, witnesses and experts in the four-day showdown before Judge Leonard Stark selects a final winner. Another set of arguments could be presented in October if the court decides more time and evidence are needed. At stake is the future of the seventh largest U.S.

Appellate tribunal NCLAT has upheld the decision of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to recall a previous ruling for an insolvency case against real estate firm Logix Infrastructure after finding the debt claim as "fraudulent" and "malicious," the Economic Times of India reported. A two-member NCLAT bench said the plea for CIRP (Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process) against Logix Infrastructure, which was developing the Blossom County project in Noida Sector 137, are based on collusion and are malicious with sufficient material.

Mining giant Vedanta has sought the Competition Commission of India’s approval for its proposal to acquire 100% in stressed infrastructure firm Jaiprakash Associates (JAL), the Economic Times of India reported. Vedanta has emerged as the highest bidder to acquire JAL under the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) with a net present deal value of Rs 12,505 crore, beating Adani Group’s offer. Under the insolvency law, the CCI’s clearance is a must before resolution plans by suitors are approved by the committee of creditors of the stressed company.

In a landmark ruling with wide-ranging implications for the real estate sector, the Supreme Court of India has drawn a clear distinction between speculative investors, whom it described as ‘slow poison’, and genuine homebuyers, the Hindustan Times reported. The court said that speculative investors should not be allowed to misuse the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code as a recovery tool to seek lucrative returns without any intention of owning a home. It observed that such investors harm the residential real estate sector and, by extension, the Indian middle class.

The Supreme Court of Korea ruled that a former husband’s act of providing his only real estate property as collateral to a creditor without paying his ex-wife’s property division settlement cannot be canceled if the creditor was unaware of his financial situation, the Chosunlibo reported. The Supreme Court’s Second Division (Presiding Justice Kwon Young-jun) overturned a lower court’s ruling in favor of the plaintiff, Lee, in her fraudulent conveyance cancellation lawsuit against A, and remanded the case to Uijeongbu District Court on the 14th.

China's new home prices fell again in August, extending a prolonged slump in prices as persistently weak demand in the pivotal housing sector remains a drag on economic growth. Prices slipped 0.3% in August from the previous month, according to Reuters calculation based on data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The figure matched July's month-on-month decline and extended a weak trend that has persisted since May 2023. On an annual basis, new home prices dropped 2.5% in August, narrowing from a 2.8% decline in July. China's real estate sector entered a downturn in 2021.

Less than a week after political turmoil roiled France following the collapse of President Emmanuel Macron’s government, Fitch Ratings downgraded France’s sovereign debt rating on Friday, raising questions about the country’s financial stability, the New York Times reported. Fitch lowered the French rating to A+ from AA–, citing an increasingly fractured political landscape and the government’s overall inability to tackle a ballooning debt and deficit that have become among the largest in Europe.

India and the U.S. will hold trade talks on Tuesday, New Delhi said, raising hopes for a breakthrough weeks after President Donald Trump imposed punitive tariffs on the South Asian nation for buying Russian oil, Reuters reported. The move comes after Trump struck a more conciliatory tone in statements last week and expressed optimism that they could finalise a trade deal. The U.S. trade representative for South Asia, Brendan Lynch, will be in New Delhi for one day of talks, Indian chief negotiator Rajesh Agarwal said.

The past two weeks have been dreadful for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), and the crisis at the car maker shows no sign of coming to an end, according to a BBC.com report. A cyber attack, which first came to light on 1 September, forced the manufacturer to shut down its computer systems and close production lines worldwide. Its factories in Solihull, Halewood, and Wolverhampton are expected to remain idle until at least Wednesday, as the company continues to assess the damage. JLR is thought to have lost at least £50m so far as a result of the stoppage.