【全球楼市】今日全球楼市速递(2010.06.30)

　　3. China Resources Enterprise – has agreed to pay HK$327m for 80% of Pacific Coffee, the 2nd biggest Hong Kong coffee chain. The retail conglomerate aims to boost its coffee chain business on China's mainland with this purchase, which would further brew competition as international leading chain operators, including Starbucks and McDonald's McCafe are also keen to expand to tap the rapidly growing coffee consumption. Investment holding firm Chevalier Pacific Holdings Ltd will hold the remaining 20% in Pacific Coffee, the company said in a statement. Established in 1992, Pacific Coffee operates 90 outlets, with 83 in Hong Kong, 4 in Singapore and 3 on the mainland. It also runs coffee outlets via franchise in Malaysia and Macau. China Resources, which manages about 2,900 stores on the mainland, said "its directors see increasing demand for high-quality coffee on China's mainland, particularly in the Pearl River Delta region, prompted by rising living standards." A Reuters report said China Resources hopes to open a Pacific Coffee outlet in each of its 200 key retail stores, citing its Deputy Managing Director Frank Lai. (Shanghai Daily).

　　4. Starbucks – which has more than 700 outlets on the mainland, plans to add thousands of new stores in the next 10 years. (Shanghai Daily).

　　5. McDonald's – the world's biggest fast-food chain, also aims to have a McCafe in more than half of its 1,100 stores in China by the end of this year and raise the percentage to 80% within 3 years. (Shanghai Daily).

　　6. Mainland property developers have shrugged aside concerns over policy measures to curb home sales and are aggressively building up their land holdings. Latest data from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Land Resources shows that Beijing land sales rose 83.3 per cent to 9.7 billion yuan (HK$11.1 billion) in May, while Shanghai, Chongqing and Suzhou also experienced growth in both land demand and prices. Comments from developers, meanwhile, underlined strong optimism over continued growth in the property market. (SCMP).

　　Hong Kong

　　1. Strong sales of Sino Land's The Hermitage in Tai Kok Tsui signal a return to positive sentiment among buyers, agents say. The first batch of 231 flats at the project was sold in just three hours last Saturday and the developer released a second batch of 130 flats for sale on Thursday at prices about 3 per cent higher. The average price of the latest batch was about HK$11,086 per sq ft. The positive response has encouraged the consortium led by Sun Hung Kai Properties to release units in Larvotto, a new luxury residential project in Ap Lei Chau, for sale. The project comprises 715 flats and agents expect it to be launched in the next two weeks. Cheung Kong (Holdings) yesterday joined the selling wave, kicking off a marketing campaign to promote the remaining units at Festival City in Tai Wai. (SCMP).

　　2. Rental prices for top grade-A office space in Central are expected to rise about 10 per cent in the second half of the year if the economy continues to improve, property consultant DTZ said. The company's research shows that the average rent for top grade-A offices in Central increased 7.9 per cent to HK$109 per square foot in the first half. Rents at other grade-A offices in Central and Admiralty rose 6.2 per cent to HK$86 per sq ft. The firm forecast that the average annual supply of new office space would be 1.72 million sq feet from this year to 2013, compared with an average new supply of 3.03 million sq feet a year from 2006 to last year. (SCMP).