〈The Standard, Dec 31, 2022〉The primary property market was hit by the pandemic and interest rate increases this year, forcing developers to postpone their plans to launch sales of new projects.

Many new projects announced they would stop selling their first two batches, which caused the number of unsold new units to surge toward the end of this year.

The number of unsold units in new projects has exceeded 18,000, an increase of 35 percent compared with about 13,600 unsold flats at the end of last December.

〈The Standard, Dec 30, 2022〉Three quarters of British property agents say deals last month were forged below asking prices, as buyers were leaving the market.

A November report by Propertymark showed that 72 percent of sales were agreed upon after the owners offered a price cut, based on the data provided by agents at 171 branches.

This was because the market was less competitive as the number of buyers for every new property had dropped to seven last month from a high of 11.

Demand for housing has been softer. The average number of new potential buyers fell for the third month to 52 last month from a high of 86 in August in all sections of Propertymark, while the number of viewings for each property dipped to 2.6 from an April record of more than six.

〈Asian Post, Dec 29, 2022〉An office space in Bank of America Tower in Admiralty has been leased out at HK$220,000 per month, or HK$37 per square foot, which is 43 percent lower than the HK$65 per sq ft asking price of a year ago amid a dearth of tenants.

The 5,968-sq ft unit includes rooms four to seven as well as room 13 on the 19th floor. Its owner bought it in October 2020 for HK$145 million, which means the rental yield is 1.82 percent, much lower than the 2.5 percent market yield of the grade A office during the third quarter, according to data from the Rating and Valuation Department.

The flat was previously owned by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and was purchased in 1996 for HK$54.61 million.

〈Hong Kong Business, Dec 28, 2022〉Cushman & Wakefield experts predict a further 0% to 5% decline in residential prices in 2023 following slow market activity in 2022.

Year-to-date, prices have dropped more than 10%. Meanwhile, monthly transactions were averaging less than 4,000 units.

“Whilst buying sentiment in 1H 2022 was mainly affected by the fifth wave of the pandemic, the market witnessed other emerging impacts in 2H 2022, including rising interest rates and stock market volatility, which prompted buyers to remain cautious and transactions to slow in both primary and secondary markets,” C& W said.

〈Global Times, Dec 27, 2022〉China has witnessed soaring trade with other members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in the past 11 months, with trade with RCEP partners accounting for more than one-third of China's total foreign trade, official data showed on Thursday.

The RCEP, which took effect on January 1, has become a powerful support for China's foreign trade, and it plays a leading role in the recovery of the global economy, Chinese observers said. They predicted that China will continue to play an important locomotive role for the recovery of global trade.

Trade between China and other RCEP members hit 11.8 trillion yuan ($1.69 trillion) from January to November, a year-on-year increase of 7.9 percent and accounting for 30.7 percent of China's total foreign trade, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).