〈Asian Post, March 14, 2018〉At the sales centre for the Leading New Wave residential complex in Cuiheng New District in Zhongshan, Guangdong province, last Thursday, buyers strained to get the attention of sales agents besieged by hordes of people looking to snap up flats in one of the hottest property markets.

The crowd had come for the second sale at the complex, built by Poly Property Group and Country Garden Holdings, after the first batch of 100 flats sold out in a single day in January.

The prices averaged 17,000 yuan (HK$21,075) per square metre, about three times the cost three years ago.The buying interest is attributed to Zhongshan being one of the 11 cities in the central government's "Greater Bay Area" initiative linking it to Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Foshan, Dong guan, Huizhou, Zhuhai, Jiang men and Zhaoqing into an integrated economic and business hub.

The Guangdong provincial government has committed 1.46 trillion yuan to build bridges, roads and railways to accelerate the transformation of the region into an area like the New York Bay Area, the San Francisco Bay Area or the Tokyo Bay Area.

By 2030, the gross domestic product of the Greater Bay Area could reach US$4.6 trillion, according to projections by the China Centre for Economic Exchanges, more than triple today's level and the highest among bay areas of the world.

The appeal of Zhongshan, the birthplace of revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, who is revered as the father of modern China, is on the rise because of the construction of an eight-lane bridge that is expected to be completed in 2023 and which will reduce travel time between the city and the regional technology powerhouse of Shenzhen to 30 minutes from two hours.

"Prices, which had not changed much in the past decade, began to surge in late 2015 when the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge was finally confirmed," said Michael Zhang Qiming, a sales manager at Kaishun Real Estate, a property agency in Zhongshan.

〈Asian Post, March 23, 2018〉Home prices rose nearly 2 per cent in a week to a record high as data yesterday showed the number of private flats being completed in the city would not meet the government's target of 20,000 units until 2019, pointing to further evidence that home prices were likely to continue to trend higher, at least this year.

The number of completed flats is expected to rise 1.9 per cent to 18,130 this year, and reach 20,370 in 2019, according to preliminary data released by the Rating and Valuation Department in its annual review on the local property market yesterday.In 2017, the number of units completed was 17,790, while 14,600 were finished in 2016.

"The progress of construction work is beyond the government's control as developers will adjust the completion of flats within the required deadline set in the land sale document," Thomas Lam, a senior director of Knight Frank said."So far, I don't see any reason for home prices to decline as interest rates are still low in Hong Kong."

According to the Centa-City Leading Index, a gauge of the secondary housing market, prices for used homes soared 1.75 per cent week on week to 175.25 points for the week ended March 18, a record high.

Still, the estimated completion figure this year would be the highest since 2005, according to Ricacorp Properties.In terms of location, 54 per cent of new home completions this year will be in the New Territories, 38 per cent in Kowloon and 8 per cent on Hong Kong Island.

In January, there were only 334 private units completed, down 80 per cent from 3,189 units completed in December, according to figures released by the Buildings Department on Thursday.

〈China Daily, March 22, 2018〉The nation’s Greater Bay Area development drive would be a boon for ordinary people in the region as the blueprint emphasizes livelihood improvement, researchers, academics and industry players said on Thursday.

Speaking at a book-launch seminar on the GuangdongHong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development plan, the commentators compared the Bay Area project with the previous business-focused regional cooperation plan — the Framework for Development and Reform Planning for Pearl River Delta Region, put in place a decade ago.

Economic cooperation with cities in the Guangdong province is regarded as a key issue in the region’s development. However, authorities now focus on making it convenient for Hong Kong people to live, work and do business in the Bay Area.

“The biggest difference between the previous development plans and the recent Bay Area blueprint is that the Bay Area puts livelihood into the top priority,” said Joe Fang Zhou, research director of the One Country Two Systems Research Institute. He believes Hong Kong will be the biggest beneficiary in the Bay Area.

Hong Kong has long been beset by livelihood problems and an unbalanced industrial structure, Fang said. The solutions lie in giving Hong Kong a bigger plot of land by cooperating with surrounding cities.

In addition to building an international innovation and technology hub and increasing the flow of talents, capital and goods within the region, Fang suggested Bay Area cities join efforts in infrastructure construction to solve problems. Landfills are one of the most urgent, Fang said. Hong Kong’s landfills are expected to hit capacity within a few years but opposition by local residents has prevented the government from building an incinerator.

〈China Post, March 22, 2018〉The city - which has a population of 7.3 million - was last year home to a million millionaires. That number was up 15 per cent from a year earlier and out of those million, 68,000 had at least HK$10 million, the Citibank study said.

The growth was a result of rising stock and property markets last year, with the Hang Seng Index up 36 per cent and property prices climbing 14 per cent.

"Looking ahead, the number of millionaires will increase in 2018," Lawrence Lam, head of retail banking at Citibank Hong Kong, said. "Stock market sentiment is strong while property prices will keep rising even with interest rate rises."

The study defines millionaires as people with liquid assets - deposits, mutual funds, stocks and bonds - of HK$1 million. It was held from September to November involving 4,139 Hongkongers and 200 mainlanders. Property was the main investment vehicle for both, with about 70 per cent of their assets in real estate. Hong Kong millionaires had an average of 3.2 properties while mainland millionaires had 3.7.

But HK$1 million does not buy much in Hong Kong. Last week a 209 sq ft flat slightly bigger than a shipping container sold for HK$7.86 million in Pok Fu Lam.

The city's millionaires had 14 per cent in cash and 9 per cent in stocks, while mainlanders had 12 per cent in cash and 7 per cent in stocks. The sources of their wealth were different, however. Hong Kong's rich said 55 per cent of their money was generated from their salary, while mainlanders said 55 per cent of their wealth came from running a business. The rest was from investments and inherited from parents.?

〈China Post, March 21, 2018〉Hong Kong’s two biggest lenders — HSBC and Bank of China (Hong Kong) — have further squeezed their margins on mortgage loans to compete for market share, setting off another round of industry-wide rate cuts that can further heighten the property market craze.

In additional to narrowing the spread to 128 basis points from 130 basis points, HSBC is offering mortgage loan borrowers a fixed rate of 1.68 percent a year in the first year of the loan being granted. Bank of China has lowered the premium of mortgage loans from the second year onward to 1.26 percent over the benchmark interbank rate, hovering at about 0.75 percent a year.

Other smaller lenders are expected to make even more aggressive cuts to compete for mortgage loan business. Industry analysts said banks are willing to squeeze their loan margins to lure potential homebuyers who have become more hesitant than before in buying properties due to growing concern over rising borrowing costs.

Hong Kong has kept its rates unchanged after previous US rate hikes. Considering the weakness of the Hong Kong dollar, which has sunk to the level that would trigger central bank intervention under the linked exchange rate mechanism, Hong Kong may have no choice but to fall in line with the US sooner or later.

By narrowing their profit margins, banks are putting greater pressure on various non-bank lenders that are vying for mortgage loan borrowers by financing the full price of the property, while banks are required by the central bank to lend no more than 70 percent of the property’s purchase price.

To be sure, increased competition among banks can have the effect of further fueling demand which, in turn, will push up property prices. But in this frenzy market, there will always be people willing to pay ever higher prices for homes they can afford.