戴德梁行：今日全球楼市速览(2010.05.11)

Mainland China

1. China’s trade returned to surplus in April but shrank 87% from a year earlier due to faster growth in imports than exports. The trade surplus stood at US$1.68bn last month, the General Administration of Customs said as it released figures that were yet another indication that the nation is in the economic fast lane. This compares with a deficit of US$7.2bn in Mar, which ended a run of trade surpluses since May of 2004. Exports rose 30.5% y-o-y to US$119.92bn in April, while imports surged 49.7% to US$118.24bn. (Shanghai Daily)

2. China’s service outsourcing market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 26% to US$43.9bn by 2014 as demand continues to increase, a KPMG industry report said. In 2009, there were 60,247 service outsourcing contracts signed, a surge of 143% from a year ago. The contract value was worth US$20bn, an annual rise of 186%. China's service outsourcing companies have more than doubled to over 9,000 from 2008. (Shanghai Daily).

3. China National Petroleum Corp, the country’s largest oil company, plans to sell its Beijing-based property unit for 126 million yuan (HK$140.4 million) after the government told state-owned companies to exit real estate development. (SCMP)

4. China's biggest developers are borrowing record amounts in Hong Kong, taking advantage of lower interest rates to circumvent a lending crackdown at home. While banks demand at least 5.2% in annual interest for three- to five-year money on the mainland, the cost of credit in Hong Kong dollars has fallen to the lowest since November 2004. China Overseas Land & Investment agreed to an HK$8bn loan in February that pays 1.45% at current market levels, Bloomberg data shows. "For property developers to keep growing in what is an extremely fragmented and competitive market, they have to go offshore" for funds, said Brayan Lai, a credit analyst at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong. "It's one way to circumvent tight onshore credit."

5. Nissan Motor Corp's – Chinese venture, Dongfeng Nissan, is building a 2nd plant in Guangzhou in Guangdong Province which is expected to be the biggest plant for the Japanese car maker after 2 years build-up. Total investment of the new plant, located in Huadu, is RMB5bn and it will turn out 240,000 vehicles annually when it starts operation in 2012. The plant will boost Dongfeng Nissan's total capacity to 600,000 units by then with potential to go over 800,000 units. Dongfeng Nissan is run by Nissan and China's Dongfeng Motor Corp. (Shanghai Daily)

6. Accor SA – one of the leading international hotel groups in China, announced it will soon open its 3 Grand Mercure hotel in Shanghai and further expand its local footprint to 11 properties. Strategically located at the South Square of Shanghai Railway Station, one of the city's busiest travel hubs with 3 metro lines running underground, the 288-room Grand Mercure Shanghai Zhongya is scheduled to open at the end of June, a boon for Expo visitors seeking downtown accommodation with convenient traffic to the Expo. By June 2010, the Grand Mercure chain will run a total of 7 properties in China, while in the Asia Pacific region the brand has 36 hotels. (Shanghai Daily).

Hong Kong

1. Salaries have begun to creep up again after dropping last year in the wake of the financial crisis. Pay rises averaging 1.7 per cent were awarded by some companies in January, according to a survey by the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management. This compares with a 0.5 per cent increase at the same time last year and a reduction of 0.6 per cent for the full year. (SCMP)