〈Asian Post, Oct 9, 2021〉In October 2019, China Evergrande Group's first project in Hong Kong got off to a flying start, selling out all 167 flats in its first weekend and outpacing sales of other developers after months of social unrest rocked the city's economy.

The Emerald Bay project in Tuen Mun and its sister development, The Vertex, in Cheung Sha Wan were supposed to showcase properties for the mainland's biggest developer by sales, with high-end German appliances, wine refrigerators and opulent common areas featuring modern design elements.

Two years on, things have turned sour. Sales are languishing in the second phase of Emerald Bay, with many of the city's biggest banks cutting off mortgages for flats still under construction. Property agents and vendors are struggling to collect what they are owed as Evergrande's financial health sets off alarm bells.

As the world's most indebted developer teeters towards default under a suffocating 1.97 trillion yuan (HK$2.37 trillion) of liabilities, the cash crunch is threatening to engulf thousands of its suppliers across the construction, materials, furnishings and property services sectors from Hong Kong to Xinjiang in westernmost China.

〈Shanghai Daily, Oct 8, 2021〉Hong Kong is at a new start for development under a national security law imposed last year, leader Carrie Lam said on Wednesday as she unveiled plans for tackling a long-standing housing shortage in the city.

At the center of plans announced by Lam in her last policy address in this term of office is a Northern Metropolis on the border with the mainland’s technology hub of Shenzhen, covering 300 square kilometers.

It will ultimately have some 926,000 homes — more than half to be newly built — for some 2.5 million people.

"Fortunately, the implementation of the National Security Law and the improvement to our electoral system have restored safety and stability in society. Hong Kong is now ready again for a new start for economic development," Lam said.

Her focus in the speech was on ensuring affordable housing for the city’s 7.5 million people, with the highlight being the plan for the Northern Metropolis, to be developed into an innovation and technology hub with the creation of more than 500,000 jobs and complementing the city’s role as a financial center.

〈The Standard, Oct 7, 2021〉Developers have applied for the presale consent for three projects that offer 2,966 units altogether, the most in three years, while more buyers rushed to buy homes in Yuen Long and Hung Shui Kiu.

Government data also showed that only 508 private homes were completed in August, down 53.7 percent month-on-month to a seven-month low.

Meanwhile, Noelle Kwok Hew-yin, the daughter of Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong, the former joint chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties (0016), bought a 4,597-square-foot luxury home at 33 Island Road in Repulse Bay for HK$505 million.

The apartment includes a 2,600 -sq-ft garden and the per-square-foot price was HK$109,854, according the Land Registry.

Kwok's daughter paid a stamp duty of HK$21.5 million, or 4.25 percent of the property price, meaning the flat was her starter home. The seller was a company registered outside of Hong Kong named Linkful Shares, which enjoyed a paper gain of HK$205 million, or 68 percent after holding for 10 years.

〈Asian Post, Oct 6,2021〉Metropolis plan to help ease traffic

Some offices at the Tamar government headquarters can move to the Northern Metropolis to alleviate the city's congested traffic as Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor believes the mega development project will create wealth for Hong Kong.

In her policy address, Lam proposed to develop the city's northern part near Shenzhen into a new Northern Metropolis in 20 years, with the 30,000-hectare land envisioned to accommodate 2.5 million people and provide 905,000 to 926,000 homes and 650,000 jobs.

Speaking on radio yesterday, Lam said the job vacancies in the metropolis will cater to residents.

"Part of the offices at the Tamar government headquarters that are not a must to be located there, can also move to the North district to make the flow of traffic more evenly distributed," she said.

By doing so, Lam said the flow of people will no longer be one-sided from north to south, but also vice-versa, or even from north to northern north, so the East Rail and Tuen Ma Link "will not always be congested."

〈China Daily, Oct 5,2021〉Metropolis plan to help ease traffic

Some offices at the Tamar government headquarters can move to the Northern Metropolis to alleviate the city's congested traffic as Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor believes the mega development project will create wealth for Hong Kong.

In her policy address, Lam proposed to develop the city's northern part near Shenzhen into a new Northern Metropolis in 20 years, with the 30,000-hectare land envisioned to accommodate 2.5 million people and provide 905,000 to 926,000 homes and 650,000 jobs.

Speaking on radio yesterday, Lam said the job vacancies in the metropolis will cater to residents.

"Part of the offices at the Tamar government headquarters that are not a must to be located there, can also move to the North district to make the flow of traffic more evenly distributed," she said.

By doing so, Lam said the flow of people will no longer be one-sided from north to south, but also vice-versa, or even from north to northern north, so the East Rail and Tuen Ma Link "will not always be congested."