Hong Kong’s beleaguered property market remains stubbornly stuck in the doldrums, as the much-anticipated border reopening with mainland China has yet to boost home transactions, which bolds ill for owners looking to unload their assets. The number of homes that changed hands in Hong Kong was 3,051 in January, according to the latest data compiled by JLL, almost a fifth less than the monthly average of 3,755 transactions last year. Transactions involving buyers from outside Hong Kong were particularly tepid. Just 34 such transactions – signified by payment of Buyer’s Stamp Duty (BSD) – were recorded in January, below last year’s average of 53 and a far cry from pre-pandemic levels. “The average monthly transaction volume involving BSD was 294 in 2018 and 178 in 2019, so it’s still significantly below the pre-Covid level,” said Nelson Wong, executive director of research at JLL in Hong Kong. In 2019, the year before the coronavirus broke out, mainland Chinese buyers accounted for 8.4 per cent of overall home sales in Hong Kong, according to data compiled by Midland Realty. 02:23 Travellers praise restriction-free movement as last closed Hong Kong-mainland China borders reopen Travellers praise restriction-free movement as last closed Hong Kong-mainland China

The value of such policies sold to mainland customers tripled last year from 2021, according to figures released on Friday, as the gradual easing of strict travel restrictions late in the year allowed cross-border traffic to resume. And things are only getting better, according to Hong Kong based insurers. Leading players including AIA, HSBC Life and Standard Chartered all reported strong growth of sales to mainland visitors in the first two months of this year after the full reopening of the border between Hong Kong and the mainland on January 8. “In February, we have seen applications from mainland customers already surpassing pre-pandemic levels,” said Edward Moncreiffe, CEO for Hong Kong operations at HSBC Life. 02:07 Chinese retirees hold rare protest over cuts in healthcare insurance Chinese retirees hold rare protest over cuts in healthcare insurance The company was the number one seller of life insurance policies last year with a market share at 24 per cent by new premiums, Insurance Authority data showed. Source link

Optimism about a recovery in China’s tourism sector in the post-Covid-19 era might prove to be short-lived, as hotels, airlines and tourism must first hire back all the staff they let go. Moreover, consumers are still not in a mood to spend. China’s travel industry was expected to be a top beneficiary of the country’s reopening, due to the release of pent-up travel demand. However, the industry, which is estimated to have employed 30 million people before the coronavirus outbreak in 2020, let go of 68 per cent of industry employees, according to a survey conducted by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce in May 2022. “We are not prepared to serve a rising number of tourists since we are short of employees,” said Zheng Honggang, CEO of Shanghai-based Kate Travel. “The pace of recovery will turn out to be slow.” The loss of staff over the past three years cannot be compensated for by a hiring spree, because many former employees of the tourism sector have secured jobs in other industries, he added. Beijing announced a plan to exit its zero-Covid strategy and to live with the coronavirus in December. It reopened its borders on January 8 and

China has approved its first domestically produced messenger RNA (mRNA) Covid-19 jab, a vaccine that its developer said worked well against some recent variants, including the dominant strain in the United States. The National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) approved the SYS6006 vaccine, developed by CSPC Pharmaceutical, for emergency use on Wednesday about a year after its clinical trials began, according to the company. The new jab would be the first of its kind to be rolled out in the mainland market. China has not authorised any foreign-produced mRNA vaccines for its citizens. The Hebei-based company said it tested the jabs on about 4,000 cases in a study from December 10 to January 18, and found the booster efficacy to be more than 85 per cent after two to four weeks. The data has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. “Clinical study shows that SYS6006, either as a basic shot or booster shot, could consistently enhance the reactivity of T cells to various variants including Delta, Omicron BA.2 and BA.5 in a high and more enduring manner,” the statement said. 03:18 Beijing rejects US agency report saying Covid-19 likely emerged from Chinese lab leak Beijing rejects US agency report saying

There has been no sharp increase in mainland Chinese visitors seeking Covid-19 vaccine booster shots in Hong Kong since pandemic travel restrictions were lifted in January. Anticipating demand for the German-made BioNTech bivalent vaccine that targets the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, private clinics in the city have advertised heavily on social media since January, targeting mainlanders. Private clinics and hospitals began offering vaccines in January to non-Hong Kong residents who had to pay for themselves, with prices as high as HK$2,800 (US$357) for a single dose. The bivalent vaccine is not yet available on the mainland. A mainland Chinese visitor receives a bivalent vaccine at a medical clinic in Tsim Sha Tsui in January. Photo: Sam Tsang Dr Samuel Kwok Po-yin, chief medical executive of Virtus Medical, one of the first practices to offer mainlanders the vaccine at HK$1,880 per shot, said: “Demand has not been high since the beginning, perhaps a few shots each day.” He said it could be because many mainlanders caught Covid-19 at the end of last year, and they had to wait three to six months before receiving the bivalent booster shot. The Hong Kong government announced earlier that non-residents would not be eligible

China should do away with mandatory mask wearing in most places despite the risk of an outbreak of Covid-19 cases caused by the highly transmissible XBB Omicron subvariant, according to one of the country’s top respiratory disease experts. Zhong Nanshan told a seminar at his research institution Guangzhou Lab on Friday there could be a new wave of infections in China but it would probably be limited in scale at the local level. Zhong also said mask wearing should be scrapped in general from April, saying masks were necessary only in a select group of public places such as hospitals. “If people wear a mask for a long time – especially children … it is not conducive to the development of natural resistance to disease,” Zhong said. Masks are no longer mandatory at universities, primary and middle schools and kindergartens, according to a directive jointly issued last month by the Ministry of Education, the National Health Commission and the National Administration of Disease Control and Prevention Some cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Nanjing, no longer require people to wear masks on the subway, according to media reports. Source link

Investors are likely to snap up more hotels in Hong Kong as tourism slowly rebounds from Covid-19 and many owners are still prepared to offer discounts, say analysts. One major player hunting for bargains in the market is Hong Kong-listed Magnificent Hotel Investments which is looking to spend as much as HK$2 billion (US$255 million) to increase the number of rooms in its portfolio by a third in the coming years. “We are currently bidding for hotel opportunities in Hong Kong, but we are not in a rush,” said William Cheng, the company’s chairman. “The price we are offering is quite a large discount, probably 30 to 40 per cent down from the prices of three years ago.” The group already owns nine hotels – seven in Hong Kong, one in Shanghai and one in London. If its plan to acquire more properties priced between HK$700 million and HK$1.4 billion each is realised it is likely to end up with 4,000 keys, up from 3,000 currently, which would make it one of the five largest hotel owners and operators in the city alongside the likes of the developers Sun Hung Kai Properties and CK Asset Holdings, Cheng said. The group’s

Hotels in China have hit the jackpot during the Labour Day holiday with a huge surge in post-pandemic demand allowing them to raise their room prices more than tenfold in some cases. Such is the wave of pent-up demand that some hotels have had to hire part-time workers to meet the needs of vast numbers of tourists after three years of travel curbs to fend off the Covid-19 pandemic. “Soaring hotel room prices had been expected by tourists, but the hefty price increase still turned out to be a nasty surprise [to them],” said Franco Feng, chief executive of Shanghai-based travel services firm Shenxiaokou. “In some areas, tourists are complaining about the quality of service even after they paid a large sum of money because hotels and inns lack staff to clean up rooms or serve food.” According to the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News, some hotels in Yangshuo, a resort town in southwest China’s Guangxi province, charged guests prices more than 16 times its normal rates on April 30 as travel demand peaked. 02:17 Thousands of tourists flock to China’s Great Wall during ‘golden week’, as travel numbers rebound Thousands of tourists flock to China’s Great Wall during ‘golden week’,

The first long national holiday since Beijing abandoned its tough pandemic restrictions saw Chinese tourists flying an average distance of 1,638km, according to travel giant Trip.com Group. Equivalent to a trip from Shanghai in eastern China to Inner Mogolia’s Hohhot, that is by far the highest in the last three years and just 2 per cent shy of 2019, before the novel coronavirus first emerged. Sales of tickets for overseas flights were eight times higher than during the Labour Day holiday last year, Trip.com data showed. About 70 per cent of those flights were to destinations in Asia, led by Hong Kong, Bangkok, Macau and Singapore. The travel bonanza will have given a welcome boost to consumption, according to Peng Han, director of the strategic research centre of the Ctrip Research Institute. 02:17 Thousands of tourists flock to China’s Great Wall during ‘golden week’, as travel numbers rebound Thousands of tourists flock to China’s Great Wall during ‘golden week’, as travel numbers rebound “The eagerness for a long-haul holiday among Chinese travellers has been unleashed during this year’s Labour Day holiday,” said Peng. Source link

Armed with sleeping bags, cardboard boxes and foldable chairs, a snaking line of almost 100 people formed outside the China Visa Application Centre in Singapore on Sunday evening – some waiting more than 16 hours in total – all hoping to secure a visa to travel to the country. Although China has eased its strict pandemic restrictions, it has not resumed the ability for Singaporeans to visit the country visa-free for 15 days. This has prompted some people to queue overnight outside the centre in hopes of securing a visa appointment. Videos of lines reaching around 1km (0.6 miles) long have been circulating on social media, and This Week In Asia understands these queues began emerging as early as March, when China announced its reopening. People wait in line outside the China Visa Application Centre on Sunday. Photo: Kimberly Lim Sun Haiyan, Beijing’s top envoy in Singapore, noted in a Facebook post on Sunday that the number of visa applications to China had increased “significantly” ahead of the summer holidays. The centre would “adjust the process for emergency visa applications, so that applicants won’t have to queue in the scorching heat”, she said. It would move visa appointment bookings online,

Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority has stepped up efforts to ease the burden on its facilities from rising Covid-19 infections, but noted that flu cases had already peaked and were on the decline. The measures included opening another ward at an infection control centre, transferring stable patients to private hospitals, and adding manpower and beds as needed. “We noticed that for influenza, the number of cases has risen sharply in the past few weeks, but it seems over the past week it has already reached its peak,” said Simon Tang Yiu-hang, director of cluster services at the authority. “For Covid-19, we see the trend is still rising. It’s difficult to say whether it has reached its peak, we need to closely monitor the situation.” He said more than 6,000 people visited accident and emergency departments at public hospitals every day. More than 1,200 patients were hospitalised this week, up from 950 in the previous one. About a third of this week’s admissions were Covid-19 cases, he said, adding he expected the number of infections to remain high in the coming weeks. Dr Larry Lee Lap-yip, a chief manager at the authority, said the government would open another ward with about 140

The country’s huge and increasingly prosperous population – it recently superseded China as the world’s most populous country – and an estimated threefold rise in foreign tourists in the next few years will ensure a race among hospitality providers to meet rapidly expanding demand for accommodation, analysts said. American hotel operators Hilton and Radisson Hotel Group (RHG) are rushing to capture a share of the growing Indian market. Hilton is planning to double its portfolio there every three to five years, according to Alan Watts, its Asia-Pacific president. RHG, meanwhile, aims to open its very first Radisson Collection hotel, in India in 2026. Global sporting events and political gatherings are helping prime the market for a near-term boom, guaranteeing vast waves of visitors from overseas. 02:36 India set to overtake China as the world’s most populous country in 2023, UN predicts India set to overtake China as the world’s most populous country in 2023, UN predicts The Cricket World Cup will be held in the last quarter of the year in the western coast city of Ahmedabad, and the biennial South Asian Football Federation championship will take place in June and July in Bangalore, the capital of southern Karnataka state.

Flush with savings accumulated during the pandemic and free to travel internationally again, Chinese people are flocking to Australia determined to buy property, according to local agents who are seeing twice or three times as many enquiries from Chinese buyers as in previous years. “So far this year, Australia is the favourite country for Chinese buyers of overseas real estate, a dramatic improvement from its third-place ranking in 2021,” said Daniel Ho, co-founder and group managing director of property-tech firm Juwai IQI. “Buyer enquiries in the first three months are 127 per cent higher than in the prior quarter.” The increase in Chinese buyers, both Australian residents and foreign-resident buyers, is obvious to Peter Li, general manager of the Sydney and Shanghai real estate agency Plus Agency. “The number of Chinese buyers, conservatively, has tripled since this time last year,” he said. “In certain areas like [north-shore Sydney suburb] Chatswood, it has gone up by 500 per cent. When we do an open-for-inspection, last year we might have had one or two Chinese come through, while this year I’ll have five or 10.” Peter Li of Sydney and Shanghai real estate agency Plus Agency. Photo: Handout Mainland Chinese buyers are

The world’s billionaire population shrank by 3.5 per cent last year to 3,194 individuals, the first decline since 2018, with China seeing the biggest contraction, according to a report which said the total assets held by these affluent individuals posted the second-largest annual decrease in the past decade. In the top 15 jurisdictions that hosted the world’s largest billionaire populations, only Singapore and Russia added to their numbers. Cumulative wealth of the ultra-rich fell by 5.5 per cent to US$11.1 trillion, as surging inflation and global uncertainties eroded the value of their holdings, said the World Ultra Wealth Report published by New York-based Altrata which used data from its Wealth-X division. China, which has the second biggest billionaire population globally after the United States, led the decline in numbers. Its billionaire count fell 11 per cent to 357 while the aggregate value of their wealth diminished by 9.3 per cent to US$1.3 trillion. Singapore’s Sentosa Island. Singapore is seeing an influx of ultra-wealthy families from China looking to protect their wealth. Photo: AFP Hong Kong was accounted for separately from China in the list of the world’s largest concentrations of billionaires. It recorded a 1.8 per cent decline in its

The return of mainland Chinese tourists boosted Macau casino revenues to 15.6 billion patacas (US$1.93 billion) in May, more than four times what they earned a year ago. On a monthly basis, the latest earnings were about 6 per cent higher than the 14.7 billion patacas Macau’s most important industry generated in April, according to government data. Since the start of the year, Macau’s casino revenues have amounted to about 65 billion patacas, nearly three times the 23.8 billion patacas registered in the same period a year ago. The latest total, however, is still just about half of the 125.7 billion patacas that Macau’s casino industry earned in the same period in 2019, the last full year before the coronavirus pandemic struck. “The comparison with last year will be amazing because of the low base,” said Louis Tse Ming-kwong, managing director of Hong Kong-based broker Wealthy Securities. “In the medium term, the city and casino operators have to widen the business as encouraged by the central government. It will take time [for a full recovery of the gaming segment] and will require a stronger recovery by the Chinese economy. “Besides Chinese tourists, inflows of tourists from other countries should also

The number of coronavirus infections in Hong Kong will drop in a “few more weeks” following the peak of the sixth wave, according to a leading government pandemic adviser who has also reassured residents Covid-19 has become endemic. Many Hongkongers had been infected for the first or second time in recent weeks amid a surge in coronavirus cases, Chinese University respiratory medicine expert Professor David Hui Shu-cheong on Saturday said. “It can be viewed as the sixth wave of coronavirus infections. But it already peaked last week and the wave is expected to linger for a few more weeks before it subsides,” he told a radio programme. “Among the cases, about 95.8 per cent were infected with XBB subvariant, which has rendered the first two generations of vaccines less effective. But for those who have been vaccinated, their infections were mostly mild with fewer serious cases and a reduced risk of fatality.” Speaking in a separate television show, health minister Lo Chung-mau said Hong Kong had passed a wave of Covid-19 infections. “The estimated number of infections was not low, but the impact on our healthcare system was insignificant,” Lo said. “The peak has also passed.” He added that the

China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) vice-chairman Fang Xinghai said he expects greater capital inflows to the mainland’s A-share market after talks with international asset managers to soothe their concerns about the potential for further US-China decoupling. Fang told reporters on the sidelines of the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai on Friday that net inflows to the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges had reached 120 billion yuan (US$16.8 billion) so far this year, compared to 85 billion yuan for the whole of 2022. He added that foreign capital will continue to pour into mainland-listed equities as long as China’s economy and companies can continue to generate handsome investment returns, despite souring US-China relations. “The CSRC has constantly and actively been communicating with global investors, shedding light on what has been happening in China,” Fang said. “I believe the link [between China’s stock market and global investors] can be strengthened if we can get our [communication] jobs well done.” Fang Xinghai, vice Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) Photo: SCMP/Simon Song The senior regulator’s remarks are in line with recent efforts by Beijing to bolster capital flows into the country’s US$11.5 trillion stock market, as policymakers grapple with stumbling growth in

Hong Kong-based asset manager Panda Residential is seeking to raise as much as £1 billion (US$1.2 billion/HK$9.4 billion) from outside investors in the region to bet on the recovery of the UK commercial property market. The fund, whose backers include the heir of the Sasa cosmetics retail chain in the city, deems it opportune to pick up pubs, hotels and student housing amid “depressed moments” which could deliver an additional 15 to 20 per cent upside in an industry upturn. “We are already negotiating with a few smaller landlords of pubs and hotels, pubs that have residential units, or a hotel with a master lease and some retail component,” co-founder Timothy Li said. The fund aims to exit from its investments and return the money to investors within six years, he added. The UK retail property segment had been on a decline even before the pandemic in 2020, according to property consultancy Carter Jonas on May 25. Average rental values dipped 17.4 per cent below their 2018 peak, while interest-rate hikes have also derailed home prices over the past two months, official data showed. The market pullback has attracted some of Hong Kong’s biggest property investors. CK Asset Holdings, tycoon

The abating Covid-19 pandemic could result in up to 2,000 North Koreans being sent back to their country from China to face imprisonment or worse, US lawmakers heard in testimony on Tuesday. The experts who spoke urged the international community to pressure China and the United Nations to prevent their return. Witnesses told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China that the pandemic – along with China’s increasingly sophisticated security systems – has darkened the outlook for North Koreans fleeing their country to work, escape persecution or unite with family. “We have good reason to believe that such repatriation is imminent, as North Korea reopens its border following extended closure in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Representative Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey. “I share this with deep concern.” Representative Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, speaks during a Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing on Capitol Hill. Photo: Bloomberg Even as Pyongyang has refused to accept foreign vaccines, it has responded to the pandemic by shutting itself off from the world. That has resulted in a backlog of North Koreans arrested by China near their shared border. They are languishing as Pyongyang refuses to take them back, witnesses