〈China Daily, December 8, 2017〉Shared office space has emerged as a major form of office leasing activity in Hong Kong, and is set to disrupt the mainstream commercial real-estate services industry.

The trend has exerted pressure on both landlords and tenants to start learning to accommodate the latest mode of office leasing business.

Spaces — a shared-office operator brand-owned by International Workplace Group (IWG) — is making its debut in Hong Kong’s co-working leasing market, renovating the entire block of Sun House in Central with 77,000 square feet that’s due to be completed in mid-2018.

The company has also committed itself to renting 40,000 square feet of space at Lee Gardens Three, Causeway Bay, which is targeted to open in the second quarter of next year. The co-working space operator will refurbish the area to create a humanized working environment, combining different elements and flavors and enabling tenants to focus on their work and get connected to a web of business networks in one location. However, it will not provide business coaching services to tenants.

“Hong Kong is set for the new working style, emphasizing lifestyle, diversity, mobility, flexibility and connectivity and we’re happy to take in Hong Kong,” said Margot van der Poel, Spaces’ Middle East and Asia-Pacific brand manager.

“We are a global co-working space operator brand which acts locally,” she told China Daily.Spaces will levy different price tags to cater to different leasing needs of tenants — ranging from startups which join as members to established companies which rent a few floors of the co-working office.

The co-working office operator said it’s optimistic about expanding its business footprints in the city besides the Central and Causeway Bay locations despite fierce market competition.“Hong Kong is a major commercial hub and regional business activities are thriving. We see the pie getting bigger,” said Henry Saliba, Spaces’ Asia, Middle East and Africa corporate development managing director.

“Land cost is less important to us. Rather, it’s more important for us to allocate the right demand at the right location and at the right price point. We believe that Spaces’ co-working leasing brand can create flexible workplaces to minimize costs for our tenants,” Spaces’ Asia-Pacific vice-president of development, Nigel Barnes told China Daily.

〈China Daily, December 7, 2017〉Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has invested HK$1.94 billion (C$320 million) to acquire an interest in Goodman Hong Kong Logistics Partnership (GHKLP or Partnership). GHKLP is one of Goodman’s flagship logistics partnerships, with the largest portfolio of high-quality, modern logistics properties in Hong Kong.

The Partnership has seen strong performance since its inception in 2006, with positive economic and market fundamentals such as limited supply of quality industrial real estate in Hong Kong combined with growing demand from international retailers and distribution companies, supporting consistent market outperformance.

“There is tremendous opportunity for growth across the logistics sector in Hong Kong, which benefits from growing domestic consumption and the city’s strategic position as a gateway into China,” said Jimmy Phua, Managing Director, Head of Real Estate Investments Asia, CPPIB. “We are pleased to deepen our excellent global relationship with Goodman through this investment in GHKLP, while at the same time increasing our exposure to the fast-growing logistics sector,” he added.

At 30 September 2017, GHKLP had total assets of HK$28.7 billion invested across 13 assets, including a 50% interest in Goodman Interlink that is co-owned with CPPIB under a 50/50 JV.

“E-commerce will be one of the major drivers of growth in the logistics sector in Asia and Hong Kong is in a prime geographic position to benefit as more players enter the market,” Mr. Phua added.

〈Asian Post, December 7, 2017〉The time has come for the government to launch a housing plan for the elderly to deal with a rapidly ageing middle-class population, the city's surveyors have said.

The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors said officials should begin requiring private developers to set aside a building for the elderly in some new residential estates in exchange for waivers to land premiums or other incentives. The idea was put forward in a policy report released yesterday.

These buildings would be designed as a one-stop shop for all the daily needs of those over 60, with flats, activity and rehabilitation centres, a health clinic and nursing home all under one roof.

The flats would not be sold. Instead, senior citizens would be required to pay a lifelong rent of between HK$1.9 million and HK$2.9 million to live in homes ranging from 226 sq ft to 441 sq ft.

If for health reasons they later needed to move into nursing homes, they would get back 30 per cent of their lifelong rental fee to go towards care home charges.

The institute said the government had neglected to include housing as part of an "ageing in place" policy aimed at taking care of a rapidly greying population.

"Government policies targeted at the elderly population cover the provision of nursing homes, medical care and other subsidies - the only thing that isn't included is housing," the institute's housing policy panel chairman Chan Cheung-kit said.

"The elderly who are eligible for public housing are already taken care of by the Housing Authority … The government has to consider those who are not eligible for public housing - the middle income group which is the biggest … in the population."

Almost one in three people in Hong Kong will be aged 65 or above by 2034, census projections show. The number of elderly residents is expected to surge 120 per cent to reach 2.3 million by then.

〈The Standard, December 6, 2017〉About 360,000 people have failed to buy another flat after selling their unit, missing the skyrocketing wave of housing prices, a bank survey found.

Citibank commissioned the Hong Kong University Social Sciences Research Centre to interview more than 500 people this quarter about their willingness to buy assets.

The survey showed that 610,000 people have sold their properties in the past 10 years, and 250,000 have immediately bought a new one. The other 360,000 did not.

Among them, 200,000 are not flat owners now. The survey showed that about 55 percent of interviewees believe housing prices will rise next year - an 11 percent increase from last year's survey. Only 11 percent thought prices will fall, which is a decrease from 21 percent last year.

However, expectations do not greatly affect their willingness to buy flats. About 21 percent showed interest in buying flats in the third quarter this year, which was 7 percent higher than the second quarter. However, it was lower than the 23 percent in the first quarter.

More than one-third of those between 21 and 29 said there was a need to buy a flat, which was the highest among the age groups. However, more than 50 percent of the people in that age group believe they would not be able to buy a flat in the next 10 years.

Meanwhile, 66 percent of males in the same age group felt they needed to own a flat in order to get married, while 45 percent of females had the same mindset.

Head of Citibank retail banking Lawrence Lam Chi-kong said young people's willingness to buy flats is affected by what they have been told.

〈The Standard, December 6, 2017〉Overall mainland property stocks fell in the Hong Kong market yesterday in spite of, as in many cases, dramatically higher revenues this year.


At Country Garden (2007), where shares fell 1.92 percent, its mainland sales for the 11 months to November rose 85.6 percent to 534.3 billion yuan.

China Overseas Land & Investment (0688) said it has contracted sales worth HK$18.74 billion, a 74.2 percent year-on-year rise, with 1.18 million square meters up 34.26 percent.

The company also said it had acquired seven new land parcels totaling 2.59 million square meters, of which four would be developed in collaboration with other developers. Land premiums payable amounted to 13.17 billion yuan.

Longfor Properties (0960), meanwhile, has also reported issuing more contracts, increasing by 29 percent to 8.03 billion yuan from a year ago. Gross area was 605,000 square meters.

For the past 11 months, its sales totaled 148.44 billion yuan, up 85 percent from the period last year. Total area contracted, 9.736 million square meters.

China Overseas Grand Oceans (0081) sold 234,400 square meters valued at HK$2.6 billion. Last month it acquired three new projects to develop more than 900,000 square meters in eastern China; this is worth 3.4 billion yuan.