HONG KONG &mdash Cosmetics retailer Colourmix will move to Hong Kong&rsquo s Russell Street, once the world&rsquo s most expensive shopping strip, and pay about 40 per cent less than the former tenant as China&rsquo s economic slowdown rattles the city.

&ldquo Landlords have to face the reality, no matter how reluctant they are,&rdquo Mr Lawrence Wong, a director at property agent Sheraton Valuers, said in a telephone interview yesterday (Sept 26). &ldquo It&rsquo s still better than leaving their property empty.&rdquo

Russell Street has lost its claim as the most expensive shopping street on the planet to New York&rsquo s Fifth Avenue, according to broker Cushman & Wakefield in November last year. A July research report by Jones Lang LaSalle predicted prices for space in prime locations will drop 15 per cent to 20 per cent in Hong Kong this year.

Retail rents were down 12 per cent in Causeway Bay and 3 per cent in Central at the end of June, Oriental Daily reported earlier this month, citing data from CBRE Group. The broker said in a report that the decline came after rents for shops at prime locations in Hong Kong&rsquo s four shopping districts, including Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok, increased by 213 per cent from 2003 to last year.

Hong Kong&rsquo s retail property market has slumped with China facing its slowest growth in a quarter-century. The world&rsquo s second-largest economy will announce a growth objective of 6.5 per cent to 7 per cent for next year, according to eight of 15 economists in a Bloomberg News survey conducted Sept 17-22. All of those surveyed said they expect next year&rsquo s target will fall short of the about 7 per cent set by Premier Li Keqiang for 2015 growth.

The Hong Kong government is closely monitoring developments in the city&rsquo s property market and will make policy changes if necessary, Financial Secretary John Tsangtold reporters today.

Hong Kong&rsquo s property prices are being affected by an increase in supply and volatile external factors such as a high probability that the US may raise interest rates, Mr Tsang said.

Colourmix, run by Veeko International Holdings, will rent a 1,000 square-foot space in Causeway Bay for almost HK$1 million (S$184,000) per month, 43 per cent lower than what luxury Swiss watch brand Jaeger-LeCoultre is currently paying, said Mr Wong, whose company handled the transaction.

In Central, Hong Kong&rsquo s business district, Adidas Hong Kong will pay 23 per cent less for the space being vacated by Coach Hong Kong, according to Land Registry data. The sports brand&rsquo s rent is HK$4.34 million a month, down from HK$5.6 million paid by Coach, the designer handbag maker.

Hong Kong&rsquo s residential market is also experiencing weaker sentiment. &ldquo Housing market outlook will likely become more cautious amid increased volatility in the global and Hong Kong&rsquo s financial markets,&rdquo the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said in a report released Friday. &ldquo The risk of downward adjustment has picked up steadily.&rdquo BLOOMBERG

Nothing is guaranteed in life only ......

If you buy at the right time and price you still can make some profit.

Buy property is best investment vehicle in land scarce sg. U see queenstown tpy flat selling for $950k even right under our noses now. Demand is strong. No worries at all. Put yur monies into properties sure huat. Put yur monies in stocks be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. Property no need to hope confirm gauranteed chop will be our retirement safety net. Property prepare to huat gao gao as opposed to equities. Make the right choice. Empower your future the right way.

Yalor no problem de lar, our garmen is supermen. Property crisis if happen also kept to minimum. 10yrs later still cheong. Want to buy property anytime is best time. Keep 10yrs sure huat gauranteed by garmen. ?

Garmen wont move a tick until there is justification to do so eg STI goes below 2500, Recession.

Otherwise they would look like manipulating a free market --of course they are but shh

Given the likelihood of downward trajectory of GDP here, some fiscal policy response might be on the cards. Construction, as seems traditional, cld be in for some stimulus. That might also mean a possibility of fine-tuning the PCM (property cooling measures) sooner rather than later, bearing in mind too that the property mkt here cld be experience negative deflationary impact already n that, with a likely rising interest-rate trend, some of the PCM might warrant a timely review.

Posted: September 25, 2015 7:45 pm

Posted by: @moneyplant

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Foreign buying in Singapore' s home market nosedives to just 7.6

• https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/photos/foreign-buying-singapores-home-market-photo-023000289.htm l">http://globalfinance.zenfs.com/images/FIN_SG_AHTTP_SBH_POLLER/foreigners_original.jp g" style="background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat border:0px display:block height:130px width:190px" title=" " />View Photo

A triple whammy of factors have been swatting them away.

BNP Paribas, in its latest report, says that foreign buying has deteriorated in 2015, compared to 2014 and 2013 based on their trend analysis.

The report attributes this to three factors: currency weakness in MYR, IDR, and RMB punitive ABSD of 15% to foreign buyers even for first homes in Singapore (imposed in 2013), and tight immigration policty to restrict foreign employees to Singapore, which may have partly shrunken foreign buyer pool.

Here' s more from the report:

As a result, homes transacated by foreigners fell sharply. In 1Q15, foreign buying accounted for 7.6% of total home transactions, down from 11.3% in 1Q14.

By sub-segment breakdown, homes transacted by foreigners in 1Q15 accounted for 13.3% of high-end segment, down from 17.4% a year ago (in 1Q14). Similar trend happened in mid-end (6.0%, down from 8.5%) and mass market (6.7%, down from 11.5%) segments.

By nationality, foreign buyers from Malaysia, Indonesia, and China were especially hit hard dure to currency weakness.

Nonetheless, in 1Q15, China was the top foreign buyer in Singapore, followed by Malaysia and Indonesia.

Given the slack in foreign buying, it becomes clear that the housing market needs to turn to local buyers for support. Unfortunately, BNP Paribas is not confident of the strength of the local support, given easing of pent-up demand, ongoing credit tightening, and prospects of rising intereste rates. All these factors tend to dampen local buyer demand.