〈Asian Post, September 8, 2018〉The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) will start to build bigger flats in its new projects, taking the lead in trying to raise living standards in a city where dwelling space is ever shrinking and home price ever rising.

The body, a semi-government entity that works with private developers to regenerate older buildings, said yesterday that the minimum size of units in its future projects would be 300 sq ft, 40 sq ft more than the current minimum allowed under its own guidelines.

"To enhance the living space of the new developments, starting from the Castle Peak Road and Un Chau Street projects, the URA plans to increase the minimum size for each unit to a saleable area of not less than 27.9 square metres [300 sq ft]," it said.

The rise of the tiny flat has been a feature of Hong Kong's property scene in recent years as developers cashed in on demand from people eager to get a foot on the property ladder but priced out of bigger units.

As the housing shortage shows no sign of easing, experts have predicted tiny flats will become more common.

A report in April by Our Hong Kong Foundation, a think tank founded by former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, said flats of less than 430 sq ft were expected to account for 45 per cent of all private housing next year, a drastic increase from the 5 per cent seen in 2010.

Property broker JLL predicted about 3,300 new flats of 200 sq ft or smaller would be completed between 2018 and 2020, up 35 per cent from 2015-17.

〈The Standard, September 8, 2018〉It is such an irony that, in Hong Kong's investment market, investors can gain from property purchases but lose from holding shares of property developers.

And now, especially with the HIBOR rate climbing up, property stocks have obviously shown their weakness of late.

However, if we say the stock market is ahead of the property market, the decline of property stocks could be a signal that the property market is starting to lose its sheen.

Otherwise, investors could pin their hopes on the future when property stocks perform better than investments in real estate.

The US Federal Reserve Board is expected to announce another rate hike this month and there's a good chance that it will be a 25 basis point increase.

Local banks have started raising deposit interest rates one by one, preparing for a rate hike cycle in the city, which would be a tipping point for the property market.

Some property stocks, including Sun Hung Kai Properties (0016) and Hang Lung Properties (0101), have fallen to 52-week lows.

The stock market is different from the property market as equities can rise and fall quickly whereas the property market has a much longer cycle.

If developers feel their share prices are looking particularly bad, they could always save themselves by buying back their shares or increasing holdings. For example, Hang Lung Group (0010) last week announced it had bought back 2 percent of Hang Lung Properties' shares worth HK$1.51 billion.

〈China Daily, September 7, 2018〉Despite all of the warnings about a correction, we may never really see prices of prime property in Mid-Levels or other core districts in Hong Kong drop, because of the limited supply ("Hong Kong's third-richest man joins chorus of warnings about property market", September 4).

I don't see a panic sell-off happening unless millionaires in Hong Kong lose their fortunes overnight. In order for Hong Kong to witness a property crisis, the economic slowdown needs to hit businesses hard, which would cause job losses.

That would be the only reason property prices would fall, maybe even in core areas.Until the very rich lose money, only the weak will sell in panic. This is, and always will be, a city of millionaires. Interest rates don't matter to the rich, neither does a US-China trade war.

Whatever the drop in prices, there will always be a wealthy person next door waiting to snap up the bargain.

〈Business Daily, September 6, 2018〉CSI Properties (0497) chairman and chief executive Mico Chung Cho-yee said yesterday that the property market has recently slowed down amid the uncertainties over the ongoing Sino-US trade war and further rate hikes.

Chung said the market should be cautious of the impact of the trade war on Hong Kong's economy.

He said the company is particularly interested in developing the Urban Renewal Authority's and MTR Corporation's (0066) residential projects, Chung said, adding it will focus on bidding for sites on Hong Kong Island.

CSI Properties expects to launch two residential projects in Jardine's Lookout and The Peak in the next quarter.

It will also explore opportunities in commercial and industrial projects, as Chung said the yield for warehouses business is relatively higher.

Currently the average per square-foot price of warehouses stood at HK$10 a month, and he expects a 10 percent increase in rents in the next one to two years.

In the primary market, Kowloon Development (0034) said its latest residential project in Yau Tong will provide 646 apartments. Most of the units in One East Coast will be one-bedroom flats, while some of them are studio flats and two-bedroom homes. Construction of the project is expected to be completed in September next year.

Kowloon Development said that around 70 percent of the units at 63 Pokfulam on Hong Kong Island have been sold.

〈The Standard, September 5, 2018〉China Aoyuan Property Group, the acquisitive mainland developer, is hoping to generate a HK$450 million profit from the sale of flats being created in a former 12-storey commercial building in Kwai Chung.

The company has pencilled in a total target sales price of HK$1.4 billion for completed flats in the building after buying it in June for HK$950 million, its second move into the Hong Kong market.

The Guangzhou-based developer bought five units at Yin Yee Mansion on Mid-Levels West for HK$131 million in March.

"We are hoping to enter the compulsory sale procedure as soon as possible, and will develop a low-end luxury project there," said Jacky Chan Ka-yeung, the vice-president of Aoyuan.

"Hong Kong's property market is particularly attractive, considering the maturity and its critical position in the Greater Bay Area [the proposed joint economic cluster of 11 cities in southern China, including Hong Kong and Macau]."

Once a firm owns more than 80 per cent of a building, according to Hong Kong property rules, the other owners have no choice but to sell their share to them.

Yin Yee Mansion will become the first residential conversion project by the mainland developer, which failed to win a bid for another in Whitehead in Ma On Shan last year.

Mainland developers are aggressively on the hunt for commercial Hong Kong property as residential prices continue to soar and the Beijing authorities prioritise stabilising home prices.