Hong Kong property market almost recovered to the peak level before the financial crisis of 2008. However this time the reason is different. In normal circumstances property prices of cities such as HK or Singapore are propelled by expatriates or Western capital. This time mainly the capital from Mainland China dominates the luxury market (See Article from Economist). The rich people in Mainland China has not sufferd as much as their peer had in the West (See Article from Chinatells). On the contrary, their wealth almost doubled during the financial crisis (what crisis?). For those superrich, they don’t even need bank loan to knock up the HK housing price – all cash. Comparatively speaking, HK has good public order, international exposure and schooling system, clean environment and useful passport, therefore it is the most livable city in China. It is common for rich Chinese to buy a property, have a baby born, and get a passport in HK.

香港房地产市场上升迅猛，看来主要原因是受强劲的大陆资本支撑。大陆富人阶层在08年金融危机的冲击下其财富不但没有缩水，反而逆流而上，成为世界奢侈品市场新宠。香港由于其发达的城市交通和干净的城市环境，受到许多富人青睐，因此其房产价格水涨船高也不足为怪。

Shanghai Daily: The Five biggest banks in China have fulfilled the loan quota for the year and they no longer offer incentives to agents for individual or household mortgage. Previously to fight for the quota Banks used to offer up to 1.5% commission to the agents for any client who takes a mortgage with the bank. Recently however with the revival of property market and increase in volume, there is no such need any more for Banks to continue to loosen the credit to home mortgage clients.

上海日报：五大银行已经停止向中介发放佣金以吸引房贷客户，主要原因是他们今年大部分都已经完成了贷款指标，没有必要再去争取更多的贷款户。在房市不景气的时候，银行动用各种手段吸引贷款户，其中一项就是给中介发放佣金。银行的这一举措体现了中国房市可能已经完成了第一阶段快速增长的段落。

China Radio Beijing: It seems that the government policy on second apartment has almost no impact on the property market. To cool off the speculation in the property market, China government stipulates that the downpayment for the second property shall be at least 40% of the property value. However, such a restrictive policy is not showing effect as per expected. China’s property market has gone through rocket increase in the last 6 months thanks to the giant stimulus program. A lot of Shanghai and Beijing residents are complaining that they can not afford to buy apartments any more.

中国广播报道，政府实行的第二套房贷政策似乎对楼市没有什么太大的影响。有钱的照样买，没钱的照样买不起。根据政府规定，购买第二套住宅需要首付至少40%。可是这样看起来严格的政策对房价没有起到限制作用，反而在过去6个月房价强劲上涨，令许多人大跌眼镜。

According to a report from China’s state council, the housing price in China will continue to go up for a long time. There are a lot of arguments to support China property price. A most supported one is that Shanghai and Beijing will become world’s financial center like Hongkong or Tokyo. Compared to the housing price in HK or TKO, the property in Shanghai and Beijing is still very cheap. In addition, China has a much higher concentration of population (90% in east coast). With the demography moving towards more seniority, there is an indispensible trend that more people would need house. Due to the limitedness of land size, the long term trend of housing price going up is intact.

关于房地产市场的讨论，是当前宏观经济领域讨论中问题最多、意见最不易统一的领域。鉴于此，目前要选择从长期看来是正确的调控政策，必须先就讨论中经常出现的似是而非的观点，从宏观角度予以理论上的澄清。基于澄清后的正确认识，可以说调控房市的长期政策倾向本应是清晰的、简单的。

关于房价的长期与短期问题 Continue (继续)

It seems that the HK real estate market is still strong even under the global financial crisis. One of the main factors to support the HK housing market is the capital from Mainland Chinese. The recent data shows that Mainland Chinese continue to be very keen to invest in HK property and have been closely involved in the recent record-breaking luxury apartment prices.

据调查显示，中国大陆资本对香港房地产的兴趣不减。最近香港几笔高档住宅天价成交都和陆资脱离不了干系。陆资的不断支撑是香港房地产价格长盛不衰的原因之一。

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Feng Lun, born in 1959 in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, won the BA in Economics at Northwestern University. He said that the profits of the real estate industry is very tempting, but most people look to marry girl instead of raising daughter. In fact, in the distribution of benefits, the Government are doing better than the company. Vanke, for example he said that last year handed over 50 billion yuan of revenue to the government, more than its dividend distributed to shareholders by 4 billion yuan.

Feng Lun believes that if the real estate market continues to develop at the current pace, the consequences will be very serious, mainly because a monopoly interest may eventually become a small group benefits.

冯仑，1959年出生于陕西西安，曾获西北大学经济学学士、中央党校法学硕士、中国社科院法学博士学位。1984年至1991年曾在中央党校、中宣部、国家体改委、海南省改革发展研究所任职。1991年创建万通集团，1993年在北京组建万通地产，曾参与创建中国民生银行并出任该行的创业董事。
关于他的话面对一位自称给许多中央领导及公司高管写过信，且创业梦想屡遭打击的创业者，冯仑说，大凡创业成功的人，多数都是熬出来的，要有耐心。 Continue (继续)

(WSJ) Despite the party atmosphere lately in China’s property market, some developers are embracing a new sobriety.

Then there is Guangzhou R&F Properties. It recently made the move of returning a plot of land it won at auction near the top of the market in December 2007. Continue (继续)

(China Daily) The government is attempting to pass the baton of growth from State-funded infrastructure investment to the private housing sector, a risky but necessary move to sustain the economic recovery.

Construction cranes sprouting in big cities, busy furniture shops and soaring property sales all show that the transition is going smoothly so far.

But officials are wary that housing prices might rise too high, too quickly.

China’s biggest listed property developer, Vanke, lifted its housing starts target for this year by 45 percent, while its rival Poly Real Estate said sales in January through July increased 143 percent from a year earlier. Continue (继续)

(Shanghai Daily) SALES of new luxury homes in Shanghai extended their rally for the seventh consecutive month when they nearly doubled in August amid an abundant supply.
A total of 590 luxury houses, all costing more than 40,000 yuan (US$5,856) per square meter, were sold in the city last month, compared with 310 units in July and 626 units registered during the first half of this year, according to a research released yesterday by Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co. Continue (继续)

(Guardian) Qatar and China have come to the rescue of the owner of Canary Wharf, which came close to collapsing under the weight of debts of £880m.

Songbird Estates, which plunged into a £1.8bn loss last year amid the commercial property slump, today agreed to raise equity financing to safeguard its future. Analysts say the fundraising will be the biggest ever seen in the property sector.

The property company, which owns 60% of the Canary Wharf development, including the main tower, has received commitments from its existing shareholders Qatar Holding, Morgan Stanley and GF Investments. It has also attracted a new investor, China’s sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corporation, which is making its first big property investment in the UK. Continue (继续)

(SMCP) Sales activity in Shanghai’s residential property market eased in the last two months, but average prices edged further ahead despite the slowdown in volumes as more luxury projects were launched for sale, property consultants said.

Average prices were up 5.3 per cent in July month on month, or 24.3 per cent year on year, property consultant Colliers International said. The momentum continued in August.

A total of 468 luxury residential units priced at above 40,000 yuan (HK$45,453.3) a square metre changed hands last month, with total sales proceeds amounting to 6.56 billion yuan, both volumes and values hitting record highs for the year, Shanghai Securities News reported. Continue (继续)

(China Daily) After almost four years of desperately searching, Zheng Tianxiao is starting to think he will never find an affordable home in his dream neighborhood. It has even affected his hunt for a girlfriend.

Unable to move out from the apartment he shares with friends in downtown Shanghai, the 28-year-old aeronautic engineer said he is always snubbed by the city’s hip, young women because he does not have “a home of my own”.

“I don’t understand. I am a well-educated professional with a well-paying job. I earn 100,000 yuan a year! So why can’t I live where I want to?” he asked as he read the advertisements in the window of a realty company.

His exasperated cries can be heard daily in this cosmopolitan metropolis, as well as in others cities across the nation, where young executives and professionals say they are being squeezed out of the property market by sky-rocketing prices.

Peaks in the market in Shanghai have been common in recent years, but the current spike has taken many homebuyers by surprise.

During the past six months, the normally predictable China property cycle has reportedly been distorted by a flood of liquidity that abruptly triggered a reversal to the downtrend caused by the global financial crisis in late 2007. Continue (继续)

针对著名房地产评论人牛刀的“攻击”，7月30日，华远地产总裁任志强发表博文《牛刀请别“胡说”》，表示自己从未唱空房价，并表示，城市化进程决定了房地产是中国长期发展的“朝阳行业”，房价也将会继续上行。

房地产是“朝阳行业”

迫使任志强发表此文做回应的，是著名房地产评论人牛刀在7月26日发表的博客文章《任志强大哥，您咋也唱空房价呢？》。牛刀在这篇文章中称，“你不是说，房价还要大涨二十年吗，这两三年就破了，您还玩啥呢？”

任志强的博文中再次强调了自己“唱多房价”的观点。他表示，由于中国的经济制度不是一个完全市场化的经济制度，因此，宏观经济的泡沫破裂，并没有影响到股市，也不表示目前中国的房价就一定是泡沫。 Continue (继续)

(FT) RMJM, one of the world’s biggest architectural practices, has won a slew of design commissions from state-owned Chinese banks.

Eighteen months ago the UK-based group won the contract to design a 200-metre high headquarters for China Merchants Bank on Shanghai’s Bund, which is under construction.

This was RMJM’s first banking project in China, though the group designed the convention centre for the Beijing Olympics and employs 150 architects in Hong Kong.

But it has also won three more design contracts in China – to build a stock exchange and headquarters for the securities arm of China Merchants Bank in Shenzhen, a 250,000-square-metre credit card centre for the same bank in Chengdu and a headquarters for the Ningbo Construction Bank in its home city. Continue (继续)

(CER) The careful resumption of mainland initial public offerings (IPOs) seems set to turn into something of a frenzy. It started quietly enough, with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) emphasizing that it would stick to IPOs of small and mid-cap companies, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange adding that the first-day share-price fluctuations of those small and mid-cap companies would be limited.

That early caution seems to have gone out the window thanks to the bumper first-day gains made by the initial group of listings on July 10. Investors and companies are hungry for more. The excitement has already prompted construction giant China State Construction Engineering to talk about moving up its US$5.9 billion Shanghai IPO – not exactly small-cap material.

All this is taking against a backdrop of an economy that continues to expand at a rapid pace. China’s GDP grew 7.9% in the second quarter, and few now doubt that it will be able to achieve something very close to its growth target of 8% this year. Continue (继续)