〈The Standard, March 23, 2024〉Hong kong is seeing an influx of mainlanders homing in on the Hong Kong market now that all transactional stamp duties have been scrapped, with one buyer snapping up four units in a new project in Cheung Sha Wan for about HK$22 million.

Two major agencies, Midland Realty and Centaline Property, have served thousands of mainland homebuyers following the removal of so-called "spicy measures" - or steps taken at the height of the market boom to make things "hot" for speculators - in the annual budget.

Dave Ma Tai-yeung, chief executive of Midland's Hong Kong Property Services, said about 800 groups of mainland home buyers viewed homes here in just that week immediately following the removal of market curbs, almost 100 times more than before.

〈Hong Kong Business, March 22, 2024〉The number of buyer's stamp duty (BSD) home sales between November 2023 and January 2024 moderately increased to 16 after the government's relaxation of cooling measures, data from JLL's latest Residential Market Monitor showed.

With minimal increase, expansion of new housing supply, and interest rate movement, JLL expects housing prices to continue to decline.

Historical analysis suggests that for prices to stabilise, monthly secondary residential transaction volumes need to consistently surpass 3,500; however, volumes have remained at or below 3,000 since April 2023.

〈Asian Post, March 21, 2024〉Hong Kong's retail industry will still tread on thin ice at the beginning of 2024, and to navigate this, the global smart commerce platform SHOPLINE suggested three strategies.

With 2024 being the "Year of Gen AI," SHOPLINE suggested that retailers introduce the use of technology.

"According to the latest research from Google Cloud over 80% of decision-makers in the US retail market feel a sense of urgency to adopt Gen AI into their operations," SHOPLINE said.

"Recently, consumers in Hong Kong have increasingly preferred using instant messaging applications to communicate with merchants. The introduction of Gen AI can eliminate long waiting times and avoid generic responses," SHOPLINE added.

〈Asian Post, March 20, 2024〉The government announced a new round of applications for the Sale of Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH) flats from 28 March to 17 April 2024.

The new round of GSH flats for sale will include 2,359 units in Lai Yuet Court in Cheung Sha Wan with sealable areas of about 26 sq m to about 60 sq m. Prices for these units range from $1.54m to $4.61m.

It will also include approximately 200 unsold or rescinded units from Kai Chuen Court in Diamond Hill, Ko Wang Court in Yau Tong, and Kam Pak Court in Ma On Shan.

The flats will be sold at a discounted rate of 48% under the enhanced Home Ownership Scheme.

〈CNN News, March 19, 2024〉The Federal Reserve sent stocks soaring on Wednesday after officials kept interest rates unchanged and maintained their forecast for three rate cuts this year. All three major indexesended the day at new highs and the S&P 500 crossed the key 5,200 level for the first time.

That record-setting boom continued when all three indexes hit new highs once again at the close of Thursday’s session.

The blue-chip Dow gained 269 points, or 0.7% to set a new record at 39,781.5. The S&P 500 was up 0.3%, reaching an all-time high of 5,241.53, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq grew 0.2% also breaking its record to reach 16,401.84.