戴德梁行：今日全球楼市速览(2010.04.27)

Mainland China

1. Home owners in Shanghai have started to cut their selling prices by as much as 10 percent to try and entice a growing number of buyers who are adopting a "wait-and-see" stance as they have been worried by government policies introduced recently to rein in property speculation. An apartment at a residential project in downtown Huangpu District at the intersection of Xizang Road S. and Bansongyuan Road - one of the closest to the Expo site - still failed to attract a buyer even after the home owner lowered its asking price to 3.6 million yuan (US$527,000) from 4 million yuan that was set right before the announcement of the measures by the central government to cool speculation, China Business News reported yesterday. And it's by no means a rare case, the newspaper added. More owners of a high-end project in the Lianyang area of Pudong are selling their homes following the tighter mortgage policy, CBN said. (Shanghai Daily).

2.  New home transactions halved in Shanghai last week amid a growing "wait-and-see" sentiment among buyers of mass-market houses while average prices continued to break records due to robust sales of high-end houses. The sales of new homes, excluding those designated for relocated residents under urban redevelopment plans, dived 50 percent to around 170,000 square meters between April 19 and 25, according to Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co and China Real Estate Information Corp which released their research yesterday. The average prices soared to a record 26,096 yuan (US$3,820) per square meter during the same period, a weekly gain of more than 10 percent, the two companies said. "The latest batch of policies launched by the central government since mid April, which aimed to curb property speculation, has left a great impact on the city's mid- to low-end housing market over the past week," said Lu Qilin, a researcher at Uwin. "However, its influence on the high-end sector seemed rather limited because buyers of the expensive homes are usually cash-affluent." Only about 70,000 square meters of new homes which cost less than 20,000 yuan per square meter were sold across the city last week, a drop of 60 percent from a week earlier. The transaction volume of houses costing more than 50,000 yuan per square meter rose 5 percent from the week before, Uwin data showed. (Shanghai Daily).

3.  More banks, including HSBC and Standard Chartered, have stopped granting loans for third homes, heeding the central government's call to curb property speculation. HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank said yesterday they have suspended issuing loans for third or more homes, following the State Council's latest call to rein in credit-driven real estate speculation. The State Council, China's Cabinet, said banks can halt mortgages for third homes in places where housing prices rise too rapidly or too high. (Shanghai Daily).

4. China’s securities regulator has joined forces with the land ministry to review fund-raising plans by real estate developers as part of increased efforts to prevent an asset bubble. The China Securities Regulatory Commission has already sent requests for financing from 41 companies to the Ministry of Land and Resources which will review their land-use compliance, Xinhua news agency reported last Friday, citing a CSRC official. Companies planning to invest in real estate through equity financing are subject to reviews by the ministry while those with a real estate business which are planning to pay back bank loans or boosting operating capital are also required to submit equity financing plans to the ministry, according to the CSRC. The ministry will send its findings on the companies' financing plans to the CSRC after it has studied carefully whether land plots have been legally acquired and if these have been left idle. The ministry will also look at whether there have been delayed payments for the land and whether illegal changes were made to land use after the acquisition. So far, initial reviews on 25 out of the 41 companies have already been done, the CSRC official said. (Shanghai Daily).

5.  Bank of China has tightened lending to buyers of second homes on the mainland, in line with the central government's move to curb property speculation. In new rules on property lending published on its website last Friday, the bank says buyers of second homes are required to pay a deposit of at least 50 per cent, up from 40 per cent. Mortgage rates have also been revised to a minimum 1.1 times benchmark rates. Buyers of first homes bigger than 90 square metres will have to pay a minimum down payment of 30 per cent, compared with 20 per cent previously. The bank says it will not provide loans to those who buy more than two homes and those who fail to provide tax returns or proof of social security contributions. (SCMP).

Hong Kong

1.New mortgage loans drawn down in March soared 60.3 percent month-on- month to hit a 13-year high of HK$27.4 billion. New loans approved surged 38.7 percent to HK$36.9 billion, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said, partly as approvals for primary market transactions and refinancing loans more than doubled. (The Standard).

2. Cyberport chief executive Herman Lam Heung-yeung said office occupancy is now at 87 percent. (The Standard).