戴德梁行：今日全球楼市速览(2010.02.23)

Mainland China

1. Mainland leaders have vowed to continue fiscal stimulus spending and appropriately loose monetary policies this year, and say the economy has not yet fully recovered from the impact of the global financial crisis, state media reported yesterday. President Hu Jintao chaired a meeting of the decision-making Politburo yesterday to review the annual government work report to be delivered at the annual plenum of the National People's Congress, which begins on March 5. The announcement, aimed at setting the tone for this year's economic development, is expected to ease concerns Beijing will announce further tightening. (SCMP).

2. Shanghai’s economic ride is showing no sign of entering the slow lane. The latest set of bullish statistics shows the city approved 20 projects abroad last month, the value of which increased nearly sixfold from a year earlier to US$239.5 million. Shanghai investors were taking the lead in this rush of outbound investment. About 75 percent of outbound investment in the city flowed to Europe in January, with a value of US$179.5 million. It was followed by Asia, accounting for 20.4 percent of the total. Real estate proved "hot property" among Shanghai investors, with US$178 million going to the sector. The manufacturing industry, however, attracted just US$16.8 million. (Shanghai Daily).

3. The head of state-owned conglomerate China Everbright Holdings has warned of the dangers of rising property prices on the mainland and said that because of market volatility the group would be cautious about investing in the sector this year. Price rises in some places were "frightening", chief executive Chen Shuang said in a rare warning by a senior mainland property executive. He believes a bubble exists in the mainland housing market, and that an interest rate increase will probably be announced by the People's Bank of China earlier than the market consensus of the third quarter. He also says measures taken so far by the central government to tighten monetary policy are essential given how much liquidity is in the system. (SCMP).

Hong Kong

1. Strong sales at its Yoho Midtown development in Yuen Long encouraged Sun Hung Kai Properties to snap up a mass residential site in Tseung Kwan O yesterday for HK$3.37 billion, more than the market had expected. The sale means the government has pocketed land revenue of about HK$32 billion this financial year, almost double the HK$16.5 billion that it projected in its budget forecast last year. Land revenue last financial year totalled just HK$16.91 billion. The site, next to Bauhinia Garden, covers an area of 132,397 sq ft and can be developed into a mass residential project with a total gross floor area of 728,185 sq ft. To avoid a development with too great a building density, the Planning Department has imposed a height restriction of 100 metres. The project is also limited to 880 units. (SCMP).