Middle Class Suffering Great Loss

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has raised its base rate to 4.25% in response to the US Fed’s recent 75-basis points (bps) hike.The city central bank’s new rate took effect on 3 November

中產」未上車，從頭規劃，要七年後才能買樓，買樓後也要挨足25年，且只要有心儲錢買樓，扣除上述開支後，每月只有不到10%的零用錢，換部電話也要思前想後，生活質素極差。

歸根究柢，高樓價是令港人生活劣化的主原，低收入者可受惠於社會福利網，保障基本生活所需，富豪階層也受惠樓宇資產受值，有多種方法錢滾錢擴大財富，中等收入的個人和家庭，則是社會的受害者，辛苦賺來的金錢，七除八扣下所餘無幾，香港尚有很多人夢想做中產，計一計數，其實是死路一條，要闖出生路，只能希望靠努力和知識改變命運，另想辦法增加財富，要不成為3%最高收入的人，要不疊埋心水，學習怎用社會福利網算數。

• Rising rates add to slump caused by Covid curbs, brain drain
• Home prices, down 8% already this year, poised to dip further

After there was no great relaxation measures for the property market in the policy address, the interest rate increases are continuing to make home buyers flinch and choose to rent instead.

And many owners have turned to leasing out their flats rather than selling them.

A total of 67 units were rented out in Taikoo Shing, Quarry Bay, in September, four times the number of sales, while rental transactions in City One Shatin were 34 percent higher than sales.

Hong Kong could still see its economy expand with continued travel activity to and from the city, Finance Secretary Paul Chan said. 

“The interest rate in the US has increased, as expected, by 0.75%. Now the interest rate of the US is at a high level unseen for almost four decades,” Chan said.

“In the Hong Kong situation, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority also raised the base rate accordingly. Given the interest rate environment, external demand would continue to be depressed, which will affect our exports.”

A sudden surge appeared in the sluggish local commercial buildings market last month as four big-ticket transactions were recorded amid prices dropping lower than the previous year.

The largest deal is the disposal of the en-bloc Goldin Financial Global Centre in Kowloon East.

The 31-floor, 920-thousand-square-foot building was reportedly sold at HK$6.9 billion - HK$7,500 per square foot - 30 percent lower than the selling price of other grade-A buildings in the Kowloon area. Its ex-holder, Goldin Financial (0530), has reportedly faced financial difficulties in recent years.

The second largest deal is the disposal of Ares SSG Capital Management's purchase of a 51 percent stake in New World's (0017) Wing Hong Street office development project in Cheung Sha Wan for HK$3.08 billion.

Portugal is likely to scrap its "golden visa" program giving wealthy foreigners residence rights as the 10-year-old scheme has already fulfilled its role, says Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

The Authorization of Residence for Investment Activity for people from non-European Union countries - commonly known as the golden visa program - has been heavily criticized at home for sending house prices and rents up.

The European Commission has also called for the end of such programs to sell citizenships to investors.

In Portugal, it has attracted 6.5 billion euros (HK$50.9 billion) in investment by foreigners - mainly from China, Brazil and South Africa - with the bulk of the money going into real estate.

China's high-tech industry is gaining international popularity despite the deteriorating global investment backdrop, as overseas investors are eying huge growth opportunities it offers.

Bucking the trend of the global foreign direct investment (FDI) slide, FDI into the Chinese mainland maintained double-digit growth in the first three quarters of this year. Specifically, FDI in high-tech manufacturing and the high-tech service sector rose 48.6 percent and 27.9 percent year-on-year, respectively.