Nomura: HK home prices inch higher

From Hong Kong Business:

According to Nomura, home prices rose slightly by 0.1% w-w to 118.58. The CCL Index’s YTD gain remained at 2.4% and the index is still 4.2% below its intra-year peak of 123.66.

HONG KONG: BEFORE THE OPEN, 20May2013

Timmy Tong quiet as a mouse; Civil servants want inflation linked pay; Better luck next time HKMEx; HKIA traffic healthy; To poison us better; Yanzhou capital raising. Here’s what you need to know.

HK Secondary property transactions jump 30.8% WoW

Weekend transactions (May 18-19) were 34 vs. 26 the weekend previous. Central Plains real estate residential department of Asia-Pacific president Mr. Chan attributes the rise to sellers lowering prices.

Sing Pao

The luxury hotel ARB in China explained

From The Economic Observer:

“Most hotels are losing money, but profits can be made off other areas aside from the hotels,” a Shanghai based developer told the EO. “If you build a skyscraper, mall or luxury hotel in a third or fourth-tier city, in return the local government will offer discounts on the price of land or tax concessions. You can also use the profits from selling the related commercial properties to invest in the hotel project and thus also avoid having to pay tax.”