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1. Singapore’s ARA Agrees to $292 Million Acquisition of Conrad Seoul
Singapore-based real estate investment trust ARA Asset Management, via its South Korean affiliate ARA Korea REF, has acquired the 434-room Conrad Seoul from Canadian firm Brookfield Asset Management for 400 billion South Korean won ($292 million), or approximately $670,000 per key, Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper reports.
Brookfield put the property on the market in October 2023 with a guide price of “over $370 million,” according to Mingtiandi, a separate Asian business media outlet.
2. Cost-of-Living Crises Dent Lower-Income Group Hotel Spending
The cost-of-living crisis has resulted in lower-income travelers reeling back their hotel and travel spending, Inc. reports. Amanda Hite, president of STR, CoStar’s hotel analytics division, said at the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference that rising costs are “affecting lower-to-middle income households and their ability to travel, thus lessening demand for hotels in the lower-price tier.”
Hite told the conference that U.S. hotel room demand in April decreased 2.7% for midscale hotels and 3.9% for economy hotels, and revenue per available room in the same month decreased by 1.7% and 3%, respectively. She added personal debt in the U.S. now is $3.5 trillion higher than it was at the end of 2019.
3. UK Banknotes Newly Displaying Portrait of King Charles III
Bank of England banknotes in the United Kingdom displaying a portrait of King Charles III have now entered circulation, the first time currency in the country has displayed a new monarch for 64 years. Currency displaying the image of the late Queen Elizabeth II first entered circulation in 1960, according to the BBC.
Those spending paper money can still use old notes. The reverse side of the new notes, at least in the English forms of the currency, still feature the same portraits of novelist Jane Austen, politician Winston Churchill, pioneering computer scientists Alan Turing and artist JMW Turner.
4. Australia GDP Posts Lowest Growth Since Height of Pandemic
Gross domestic product in Australia grew in the first quarter of 2024 by just 0.1% over the fourth quarter 2023 and 1.1% in year-over-year terms, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“GDP growth was weak in March, with the economy experiencing its lowest through the year growth since December 2020,” said Katherine Keenan, head of national accounts at Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The Australian government has a raft of policy changes that seek to address the slump, including income tax cuts due on July 1 and a 3.75% raise in the minimum wage set to start on the same date, the Journal reports. The government’s budget for 2024-2025 also includes cash handouts for each household and rebates against “soaring electricity costs and a big jump in rents.”
5. Indian Stocks Fall on Modi Majority Wobbles
Indian stock prices dropped to their lowest point since March 2020, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reports. According to Reuters, the market is showing worry that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to win the “overwhelming majority predicted by exit polls” following the end of voting in nationwide Indian elections.
Votes are still being counted in the county of 1.4 billion people. Reuters added that with approximately 50% of the counting completed, it looked less sure that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party would win a majority on its own and thus would require coalition support from the National Democratic Alliance. Modi still is set to be the largest vote winner and secure a third term.