Sheikh due to arrive no later than June to attend opening ceremony of private office but name change possible to reduce focus on his ties with ruling family, aide Eleanor Jane Mak says.

By allowing local governments and state-owned enterprises to buy unsold land and housing from distressed developers, China is betting a property slump weighing down the economy can be stopped once and for all.

Hong Kong residents fill their shopping trolleys and tummies in Shenzhen while Singaporeans hop across to Johor Bahru as they make the most of cheaper prices, denting the stability of their retail sectors.

Economist Richard Koo’s theories influenced Western policy decisions after the global financial crisis, and now he has strong words for Chinese policymakers on the need for fiscal stimulus to ward off a ‘balance-sheet recession’.

Recovery in China’s luxury home market is gaining pace, while recent measures by the government could help turn around the fortunes of the property industry.

The mainland has US$3.9 trillion worth of unsold properties, which makes Beijing’s funding plan account for less than 2 per cent of that excess inventory, a Barclays report said.

Beijing has announced 300 billion-yuan in funds to help clear excess housing inventory, as well as measures to ensure developers have access to financing and that homes are delivered on time.

Another set of weak housing market data for April underscores the urgency among officials in Beijing to stem the crisis and rescue some of the nation’s biggest yet cash-strapped developers.

China’s property investment fall accelerated in the first four months of the year, while retail sales growth slowed in April, data released on Friday showed.

Authorities in Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province, are planning to buy homes and rent them at affordable rates, to reduce inventory and boost sales.

Hong Kong is missing out on an office investment boom in the Asia-Pacific region this year as a supply glut and high vacancy rates put investors off the segment, according to analysts.

Starwood Capital Group, one of the largest real estate investors worldwide, is part of a consortium of shareholders proposing to take Asian warehouse developer ESR Group private.

The flagship developer of tycoon Li Ka-shing has slashed the price of some of the remaining flats at its project in the Northern Metropolis by almost a third compared with when it was first launched in 2021.

Luxury homes – categorised as those priced over 15 million rupees – made up more than one-fifth of all residential units sold across India’s seven top cities in the first quarter.

UBS may start rewarding its bankers for referring clients to the firm’s wealth management business, in a first for the Zurich-based lender

The value of mortgage insurance rose to HK$13.71 billion (US$1.75 billion) in April, the most since HK$16.07 billion in June last year, data from mortgage broker mReferral shows.

Hangzhou’s move marks the most aggressive measure to revive the local housing market, following an apparent green light from the nation’s top leadership last month.

Shenzhen and Wuhan have become the latest Chinese cities to ease home purchase restrictions to boost sales, as a growing number of major metropolises take steps to support the country’s slumping property sector.

The mixed-use project, close to Fanling and Sheung Shui, will include a residential component with some 2,000 flats. It will cover 150,000 sq ft and will have a total buildable floor area of over 1 million sq ft.

More than half of middle-income households in Hong Kong believe house prices are poised to rally now that all of the restrictions in the market have been scrapped, according to a survey by Citibank.

The appetite for commercial property in Asia-Pacific is likely to remain subdued until interest-rate cuts arrive later this year or early next year, according to a CBRE survey. Investors in Hong Kong were notable net sellers last quarter.

Mainland Chinese buyers account for anywhere from 30 per cent up to 80 per cent of the sales in some recent launches, agents say, raising hopes that their buying power will bring price stability to the market.

Hong Kong’s property transactions came close to a three-year high in April, with 9,880 units changing hands according to official data, as the removal of cooling measures continued to boost demand.

A new wave of property stimulus measures is brewing that should fuel a recovery in market sentiment across China as the country’s top decision-makers pledged to tackle housing inventories, according to analysts.

The capital city has relaxed rules on multiple home purchases after 13 years as part of the country’s effort to stimulate a stubbornly stagnant property market.

The appetite of mainland Chinese firms for premium space was not enough to stem a steady increase in the vacancy rate as more office premises came online and overall demand shrank.

Media freedom advocates warn of public discourse being stifled after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim called for action to be taken against sources in a contentious news report.