Prinsiri launches new condo project after success in Rama II
Prinsiri is launching its latest condominium project, Smart Condo Watcharapol, worth Bt700 million, following the success of 'Smart Condo Rama II' worth Bt1 billion, which was sold out within two days.
Smart Condo Watcharapol will begin pre-sales on September 26 with a starting price of Bt888,000 per unit and utilisation space ranging between 31 square metres and 46 square metres per unit.
The project is a low-rise condominium, eight storeys high, with a combined 724 units in four building. - The Nation
HK home prices highest since '97
Hong Kong home prices rose to the highest since December 1997, according to Centaline Property Agency, defying government efforts to rein in speculation and prevent an asset bubble.
The Centa-City Leading Index rose 1.11 per cent to 84.54 in the week ended September 5, from 83.61 a week earlier, according to an e-mailed press release by Centaline, one of Hong Kong's biggest property agencies. Transactions of used apartments at 10 of Hong Kong's biggest private developments fell for a second straight week, Centaline said earlier.
The government has raised down-payment ratios and accelerated the sale of land for development to rein in home prices that have surged about 45 per cent since the beginning of 2009. Prices are now on par with 1997, the height of a previous bubble that was followed by a six-year slump that sent values more than 50 per cent lower. - Bloomberg
Tokyo office vacancies at new high in August
Tokyo's office vacancy rate rose to a record in August amid increased competition to find tenants, according to Miki Shoji Co, a privately held office brokerage company. Shares of property developers dropped.
The measure of unoccupied office units climbed to 9.17 per cent last month from 9.1 per cent in July, Tokyo-based Miki Shoji said in a report today. The increase came after the rate fell for the first time in more than two years in July. - Bloomberg
Demand down in New Zealand
New Zealand house prices rose at the slowest annual pace since December as home-loan interest rates increased and consumer borrowing declined.
Prices advanced 3.1 per cent in August from a year earlier, after gaining 4.1 per cent in July, according to an index compiled by Quotable Value New Zealand.
Weaker demand for property adds to signs that New Zealand's economic recovery will be gradual this year. A Credit Suisse index based on swaps trading shows there is only a 10 per cent chance that central bank Governor Alan Bollard will raise the official cash rate at next week's review, after he boosted borrowing costs at the previous two meetings. - Bloomberg