〈Asian Post, July 3,2021〉Hongkongers seeking a new lease of life in Britain under the long-term stay and citizenship scheme are increasingly looking to regional cities to buy a home, as prices across the country climbed at the fastest pace in about 14 years.

While London remains the ideal choice for traditional and wealthier buyers for its conveniences, the newest batch of investors from the Asian financial hub are finding better values elsewhere, according to property agents.

"We are doing three to five deals a week in regional cities from Bristol to Manchester," said Mark Elliott, head of international residential at consultancy Savills. "We have seen a slight shift from off-plan properties to constructed or second-hand homes."

The firm's office in Hong Kong had clinched ￡87 million (HK$935 million) in sales this year from local buyers, he added, of which 80 per cent were focused on prime London locations.

Hongkongers made up the second-largest group of buyers in luxury homes in central London, accounting for 8.5 per cent of transactions by foreigners last year, according to Knight Frank.

〈The Standard, July 2, 2021〉Hong Kong immigrants are urged not to rush into property purchases in the United Kingdom as the decision will affect their children's schooling.

Education consultant Samuel Chan Sze-ming said that, unlike Hong Kong, the UK's state school catchment area could be very small.

"There's a chance that even if your home is one kilometer away, they won't accept you," he said. "Maybe they only accept those within two streets away."

Chan said yesterday that the UK's private schools recorded fewer overseas students from other countries and regions last year except for those from Hong Kong - "the number did not fall but rose instead, with more than 2,100 students admitted."

He estimated many also chose to enroll their kids in state schools. Chan's Hong Kong-based education consultancy, Britannia Study Link, alone recorded about a thousand families consulting to enroll kids in state schools.

〈Asian Post, July 1, 2021〉Transaction volume for housing, commercial and industrial and parking spaces surges to HK$468.7 billion, the most since 1997, as investors pile in

Hong Kong's property transactions are gathering steam with total deal volume surging to a 24-year high in the first half, led by a bounce in residential assets, as investors piled into the market amid the economic recovery.

The overall volume, including transactions for housing, commercial and industrial and car parking spaces, rose to HK$468.71 billion in the period, the most since the HK$483.6 billion recorded in the first half of 1997, according to data compiled by Midland Realty.

It represented a 74.2 per cent jump from a year earlier, when the Covid-19 pandemic and the recession dampened sentiment.

Transactions for secondary homes topped the list, accounting for HK$280.06 billion, or nearly 60 per cent of the total.

〈The Standard, June 30, 2021〉A car parking space at a luxury mansion development on The Peak recently sold for HK$11.89 million - marking another world record.

That came as Mount Nicholson, the exclusive residential site on The Peak developed by Wharf and Nan Fung Group, was selling its parking spaces through tender with the lowest bid price being HK$9 million.

The developer said more than 30 car parking spaces were sold, costing tens of millions of dollars.

So far, at least 23 parking spaces have been registered after purchase, with prices ranging from HK$9 million to HK$11.89 million.

The sky-high-priced parking space was bought by Texwinca Holdings executive director Poon Ho-tak. All in all, Poon spent a about HK$35.7 million on three parking spaces,.

〈China Daily, June 29, 2021〉Demand for housing unlikely to be affected by departures as newcomers seeking places to live are expected to drive sales along with recovery

Hong Kong is unlikely to see a significant impact on housing demand from the growing emigration wave, according to the president of the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong (REDA), joining a chorus of market observers who expect prices to continue rising this year.

"I know some people are leaving, but some people are moving here to Hong Kong," said Keith Kerr, president of REDA and a former chairman and chief executive at Swire Properties.

"For every person moving out, there's probably at least the same number, if not more people coming in, so I don't think that really is going to affect demand in the medium to longer term."

There would be "a positive uptrend for the rest of the year, barring any unforeseen circumstances" as the market is relatively strong at the moment, said Kerr, who set up his boutique property firm known as The Development Studio (TDS) after he retired from Swire in 2009.