〈The Standard, Apr 23, 2022〉The first price list for The Henley II at Kai Tak has been revealed by Henderson Land Development (0012), and they run at an average of HK$24,333 per square foot after discounts.

The Henley II batch comprises 61 units from 380 sq ft to 575 sq ft, meaning prices will range from HK$8.7 million to HK$14.6 million after discounts.

Entry-level one-bedroom flats cost HK$22,995 per sq ft compared to HK$22,000-HK$25,000 for secondary homes in the same area.

Also at Kai Tak, Wheelock Properties said it has received at least 4,000 checks for Monaco Marine, where 306 flats on price lists and two homes on tenders will be sold on Saturday. That means the units were 12 times oversubscribed.

Meanwhile, Henderson's project in Tai Kok Tsui - The Quinn Square Mile - released a first price list, offering 123 units at an average price of HK$23,928 per sq ft.

〈China Daily, Apr 23, 2022〉Increases would end era of cheap money that has helped push city’s property to unaffordable levels

The surge in the US dollar ahead of an expected series of interest rate rises is likely to heap further misery ont，Hong Kong's flagging property market, according to industry observers.

Rate rises by the Federal Reserve to contain surging inflation would lure global capital into the US, strengthening the dollar, said Albert Wong, an honorary consultant at AA Horses Mortgage Brokerage Services.

As the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US currency, this in turn would end the era of cheap money that has fuelled Hong Kong's housing market and made the city one of the least affordable places in the world to own a home, he said.

" Hong Kong home prices have in the long term been inversely correlated to the strength of the US dollar," Wong said.

"It will mark the end of the low interest rates enjoyed by Hong Kong in the past 20 years that have propelled the city’s home prices sharply upwards."

〈Asian Post, Apr 21,2022〉
Individual retail landlords in Hong Kong are hoping to sign up new short-term tenants with ?discounted rents in the hope of lifting them when border reopening brings back high-spending mainland tourists to spark an industry revival, analysts said.

The owner of a 10,000 sq ft store in Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mong Kok, for example, is offering the property at almost 60 per cent below its current rate, when its tenant, local fashion house Izzue, departs later this month.

The store, a stone’s throw from Mong Kok MTR station, was being marketed at HK$1 million, or HK$96 per square foot, to attract new ?tenants, said Tony Lo Chin-ho, chief executive of Midland’s ICI Property unit. That works out to less than half compared with HK$2.4 million under the existing lease.

"The landlord will only offer low rents in the first two years, and the third year will be subject to negotiations," Lo added.

The government is easing part of its Covid-19 curbs for select businesses from Thursday as ?infection cases decline.

〈China Daily, Apr 20, 2022〉HongKongers looking to buy homes in London either for their own use as they relocate to Britain under the British National (Overseas) visa scheme, or for investment, are likely to find themselves competing with a rising number of Singaporean buyers, analysts said.

More Singaporeans were looking to buy property in London and this, coupled with local demand and that from other Hongkongers could be partially behind a 2.2 per cent – or about ￡12,000 (HK$123,000) – increment in overall London home prices in February, the fastest growth rate on a monthly basis among all regions in Britain, said Marc von Grundherr, director at property agency Benham and Reeves.

In central London, average prices rose by 2.1 per cent in the year to March, which was the strongest annual rate of growth since May 2015, according to property consultancy Knight Frank. The number of new prospective buyers in the area was also 84 per cent higher in the first quarter than the five-year average.

〈Asian Post, Apr 19, 2022〉Landlords’ short-term move is a bet on border reopening, analysts say

Individual retail landlords in Hong Kong are hoping to sign up new short-term tenants with ?discounted rents in the hope of lifting them when border reopening brings back high-spending mainland tourists to spark an industry revival, analysts said.

The owner of a 10,000 sq ft store in Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mong Kok, for example, is offering the Property at almost 60 per cent below its current rate, when its tenant, local fashion house Izzue, departs later this month.

The store, a stone’s throw from Mong Kok MTR station, was being marketed at HK$1 million, or HK$96 per square foot, to attract new ?tenants, said Tony Lo Chin-ho, chief executive of Midland’s ICI Property unit. That works out to less than half compared with HK$2.4 million under the existing lease.

"The landlord will only offer low rents in the first two years, and the third year will be subject to negotiations," Lo added.