〈The Standard, Sep 14,2024〉The local market is poised to see more deals once the United States starts cutting rates, but the outlook for an immediate rally in prices may still be clouded by slower economic momentum.
Developers' inventory stood at nearly 22,000 units at the end of last month, with 14,400 earmarked for sale yet to be put on the market, according to Midland Realty's research.
Midland expects primary-market deals to rebound past the 1,000 mark this month as many projects are up for sale at low prices.
〈The Standard, Sep 13,2024〉The Canadian real estate market, hobbled by a lack of housing affordability and high interest rates, is expected to see a 5-percent drop in the fourth quarter, according to an analysis published by Oxford Economics.
Toronto and Vancouver should especially brace for a sharp fall.
The report, written by economists Tony Stillo and Michael Davenport of Oxford Economics, indicates that a lack of affordability and looming mortgage renewals have brought growing strain on the Canadian real estate market and highlighted a need for market adjustment.
〈Hong Kong Business, Sep 12,2024〉The Housing Authority has launched the Well Being·Start-Up programme, offering rent-free shop premises in its shopping centres to entrepreneurs aged 35 or below.
Up to 10 shop premises are available under the programme, which will run from October 2024 to April 2025.
Participants will not need to pay rent and will receive assistance with basic shop renovation and marketing, the HA said in a press release.
The HA said that it will regularly review the participants’ business performance. If participants make a profit, it will charge 20% of their net profits to fund, which will be used to support the programme’s development.
〈Asian Post Sep 11,2024〉Hong Kong is amongst the most transparent real real estate market globally, joining European countries such as Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, and Spain, JLL reported.
Overall, Hong Kong ranked 15th in JLL’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index 2024, with an overall score of 1.97.
Hong Kong also ranked within the top 20 in three of the six sub-indices including performance measurement (12th), market fundamentals (5th), and regulatory and legal (14th).
However, Hong Kong ranked low on the rest of the sub-indices including governance of listed vehicles (42nd), transaction process (28th), and sustainability (38th).
〈BBC, Sep 10,2024〉PwC's Chinese auditing arm has been suspended from the country for six months over its work on the collapsed Chinese property giant Evergrande.
The Big Four accountancy firm is also being fined more than $62m (£47m) after Chinese authorities said it had helped cover up fraud at Evergrande.
The real estate firm collapsed in January under a mountain of debt.
PwC China admitted the work had fallen "unacceptably below the standards" expected within the firm and apologised for the impact on its clients.
