〈The Standard, May 27, 2023〉Hong kong's retailers are continuing to bet big on a recovery in tourism with two major rental deals recorded in shopping hub Tsim Sha Tsui.

Lung Fung Mall, a retailer of pharmaceutical and beauty products, has leased a 4,275-square-foot store at Manley House on Canton Road for HK$1 million a month, or HK$234 per sq ft.

The rent was 71 percent lower than the pre-pandemic levels.

And jewelry retailer Luk Fook has leased a 2,500-sq-ft store on Nathan Road for HK$550,000 a month, following its recent leases in Russell Street in Causeway Bay and Canton Road.

〈The Standard, May 26, 2023〉The lands department is set to launch the first residential site for tender in this fiscal year tomorrow. In Kennedy Town, it has a market valuation estimated to be between HK$2.2 billion and HK$2.7 billion.

The site at the junction of Sai Ning Street and Victoria Road can be developed into buildings with a total floor area of about 243,000 square feet.

It will be the first of six residential sites for tender this year. The response to this tender can serve as an indicator for the overall demand and sales of land in the area.

The site is a bus terminal at the moment. It is near China Merchants Godown B, where some flats are expected to have sea views in the future.

〈Asian Post, May 25, 2023〉Market demand for Hong Kong’s Grade A office is expected to continue through the path of improvement as new office spaces are completed, according to JLL’s latest property market report.

An estimated 3.2 million square feet of new Grade A office space are scheduled for completion in 2023, said Alex Barnes, managing director at JLL Hong Kong. Whilst this will drive vacancy rates to rise, the new completions are also expected to attract tenants to relocate and upgrade their offices, Barnes said.

For example, Doo Group leased an entire floor– with a gross floor area of 12,600 square feet– at the Millennity in Kwun Tong to upgrade and consolidate its offices within the same district, JLL noted.

〈Hong Kong Business, May 24, 2023〉Hong Kong's removal of its travel restrictions, and mainland China's reopening of its borders in January, would drive the city's strong rebound in its air traffic, says Fitch Ratings.

Recent traffic data at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) showed that the city's passenger volume surged to the 3.1 million mark in April, recovering 54% of its 2019 level. The statistic was 25 times the same as last year.

The rating agency also said that Hong Kong is ready for the pent-up travel demands, as routes are beginning to resume gradually and traffic to revive despite economic headwinds and geopolitical tensions.

〈Asian Post, May 23, 2023〉The majority of Gen Zs (62%) are requiring strong equity, diversity, and inclusion (ED&I) from their employers, higher than Gen X (49%) and Millennials (56%), a Randstad report showed.

Gen Zs also has the highest percentage (24%) of respondents who answered that they would rather be unemployed than work for a company that does not align with their personal values.

With these findings, Randstad advised firms to invest in equity and inclusion to retain and attract talent.