【全球楼市】今日全球楼市速递(2010.07.09)

　　Mainland China

　　1. It's a long way from Stepney to Shanghai, but 176 years after Charles Henry Harrod opened a grocery shop in London's East End the retailer which has become a global byword for extravagant consumption is considering opening a 2nd vast emporium – in China. 2 months after Mohamed Al Fayed sold the Knightsbridge store to an investment group controlled by the Qatari royal family for 1.5bn, Harrods bosses are working on ways to expand the empire. Michael Ward, managing director of Harrods, said: "Can we open stores in other geographies? That opportunity is there. There are other areas of the world where we could operate profitably." Harrods will chase wealth, and Shanghai is the most likely destination. "China is the most probable, but we would have to do a lot of work first," he said. (The Guardian).

　　2. Geely Holding Group – is likely to locate the Chinese plant of Volvo Cars in Shanghai’s Jiading district, media reports said, citing a government official. The Chinese car maker has signed a framework deal with the district to site an assembly plant in Anting Town, Shanghai's auto city, a Chinese website said, citing Zhu Mingrong, an official of the district government. Jiading will also host Volvo's Chinese headquarters and a local engineering centre, the official added. (Shanghai Daily).

　　3. The IMF's quarterly World Economic Outlook projected that China's economy will grow 10.5% on an annual basis this year, up 0.5 percentage point from the prediction it made in April. (Shanghai Daily).

　　4. Shanghai was rated the 8th top financial hub in the world in a new index tracking 45 financial centres globally. The International Financial Center Development Index, launched in Shanghai, rated New York, London and Tokyo as the world's top 3 financial hubs with Shanghai showing the biggest growth potential. (Shanghai Daily).

　　5. The contract value of foreign investment in Shanghai rose 17.6% y-o-y to US$1.18bn in May, the 1st double-digit increase in 16 months. The contracted foreign investments totaled US$6.248bn in the 1st 5 months of this year, up 10.3% from a year earlier, according to the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce. (Shanghai Daily).

　　6. Department store operator Maoye International bought a prime site in Huaian, Jiangsu province for 275 million yuan. (The Standard).

　　7. The total outstanding amount of Chinese banks' off-balance-sheet lending through trust firms was between 800 billion and 900 billion yuan at the end of June, a senior banking source said yesterday. The banker, who declined to be named, said the top four banks accounted for 60 percent of the lending. The mainland banking watchdog has ordered trust firms to halt the launch of wealth management products based on loans transferred from bank balance sheets and funneled to key industries such as property and infrastructure. Revenue generated from such products account for less than one- thousandth of the total revenue of major banks, the source said. Trust firms are hybrid institutions that combine the characteristics of private equity firms, hedge funds, wealth managers and banks. Demand for their products is brisk because they offer much higher yields than bank deposits. (The Standard).