〈The Standard, June 22, 2024〉Tenants in prime retail spaces are on an expansion path, and Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay are the most appealing to them due to leasing costs that are still recovering from that Covid-19 retail chokehold.
One instance of this saw a 1,000-square-foot, ground-floor shop at 501 Lockhart Road in Causeway Bay leased out for HK$150,000 a month to Wu Zhi Jian Beef Noodles, with the rent being 40 percent lower than prepandemic levels four years ago.
For the shop's owner, that's a pretty seamless transition from the last tenant, a Japanese restaurant that had operated for four years since February 2020 at a monthly rental of HK$250,000, agreed upon prepandemic.
Preceding the Japanese restaurant was a fashion store that sold branded handbags that paid an even handsomer rent of HK$380,000.
〈The Standard, June 21, 2024〉The lands tribunal did not receive any applications for orders of compulsory sales at all in the first five months of 2024, the only time in 14 years that this has occurred.
That is happening at a time when consortiums have been slowing down the pace of expansion of their land banks with the government considering revising an ordinance to ease the threshold for compulsory sale application.
Alex Leung Pui-wang, chief executive of CHFT Advisory and Appraisal, believes that consortiums with merger projects in the market will wait for the updated ordinance to come into effect before applying for compulsory sales and that the number of applications will increase exponentially then.
〈Hong Kong Businesd, June 20, 2024〉Hong Kong's economy is on a recovery path with five consecutive quarters of positive GDP growth, according to Marcos Chan, Executive Director, Head of Research, CBRE Hong Kong. Despite this progress, high interest rates are significantly disrupting investment activities and the property market.
"The Hong Kong economy, it's definitely recovering on track. We've seen five consecutive quarters of positive GDP growth, and we've recorded 2.7% growth in the first quarter, which is not bad," said Chan. He pointed out that the unemployment rate remains extremely low at around 3%, and some sectors are performing at pre-COVID levels, particularly domestic consumption.
However, Chan stressed that high interest rates are a major hurdle to faster recovery. "Basically, it ensures Hong Kong's investment activities, particularly that in the property market, to be kept at very, very low levels, and it also eliminates some of the wealth effects as well," he stated.
〈Asian Post, June 19, 2024〉In May, the government recorded 7,361 sale and purchase agreements for all building units for registration, reflecting a 25.5% drop month-on-month (MoM) but a 39.3% increase year-on-year (YoY).
Overall transactions amounted to $62.3b, dropping 25.8% MoM but increasing 39.8% YoY.
Of the transactions, 5,546 were residential units, representing a 35.1% decrease MoM and a 38.5% YoY rise.
The total value for residential units amounted to $53.4b, down 31.1% from April and up 45.2% YoY.
There were 405,058 land register searches in May.
〈Asian Post, June 18, 2024〉A Sha Tin site included in the 2024-25 Land Sale Programme will be open for public tender from 14 June, the Lands Department announced.
Sha Tin Town Lot No. 623, spanning 2,425 square meters, is designated for non-industrial use, excluding godowns, hotels, or petrol filling stations.
Interested parties must adhere to a minimum gross floor area of 8,730 square meters, with a maximum of 14,550 square meters. Government accommodation, including a day care center for the elderly, a center for home care services for frail elderly people, and a lay-by, is excluded from this calculation and must be constructed by the purchaser.
