〈The Standard, Sept 9, 2023〉Low prices for newly built homes and interest rate hikes sent bank valuations for flats at 17 blue-chip housing estates down by up to 4.6 percent last month.

Those 17, out of 20 estates tracked, were two more than the 15 that saw declines in July, with the falls coming in a wide range from 0.5 to 4.6 percent, according to Hang Seng Bank's online valuation platform.

Only one estate saw bank valuations rise, and that was by 2.89 percent, while the remaining two stayed unchanged.

One unit at Amoy Gardens in Ngau Tau Kok saw the largest drop in valuation, slipping by 4.62 percent to HK$4.96 million, or HK$13,299 per square foot.

〈The Standard, Sept 8, 2023〉Rents in hong Kong are expected to spiral up by another 10 percent this year, having already risen to the highest level in almost two years amid an influx of mainlanders taking advantage of a new visa program to work in the city.

Rental costs rose for six consecutive months to the highest since late 2021 in July with the number of rental deals accounting for more than 80 percent of all deals struck during the period - the first time since data gathering began in 2008, according to Midland Realty.

It attributed the increase to the various talent admission schemes, a surge in the number of non-local students, as well as prospective people looking to buy for their own use turning to rent instead.

Hong Kong saw its population grow by 2 percent, or 152,000, in the first half from a year earlier, with the government partly attributing the increase to the different programs to attract talents.

〈Asian Post, Sept 7, 2023〉Businesses in Hong Kong view Southeast Asia as a potential area for expansion. But before venturing into this territory, an expert from UOB advises local firms to consider four essential criteria that will help them navigate and achieve success in the region.

Ricky Ng, head of Wholesale Banking at UOB Hong Kong, said firms must first consider their target location’s legal and regulatory policies.

“A business will need to adapt to a new legal and regulatory environment when they enter a new market to tackle issues such as intellectual property laws, labour laws, ESG, [and] tax requirements as well,” Ng told Hong Kong Business.

〈Hong Kong Business, Sept 6, 2023〉The retail segment recorded the largest increase in terms of transactions in August when compared to the commercial and industrial sectors.

Data from Savills Hong Kong showed that the retail segment had 106 registrations in August, up 35.9% MoM.

The commercial buildings segment, on the other hand, recorded 60 registrations, translating to a 22.4% MoM increase.

Industrial segments only recorded an 8.8% MoM increase in their transactions, with 185 registrations in August.

〈Shanghai Daily, Sept 5, 2023〉China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went down 3 percent year on year in August, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed Saturday.

The decrease narrowed from a 4.4-percent decline in July and a 5.4-percent drop registered in June. On a monthly basis, the August PPI edged up 0.2 percent, compared to a decrease of 0.2 percent registered in July, NBS data showed.

The average PPI in the first eight months of 2023 went down 3.2 percent year on year, the data showed.