〈The Standard, June 7, 2025〉The Executive Council has set clear conditions for the land grants, requiring the URA to leverage the sites as assets to enhance its borrowing capacity and sustain urban redevelopment momentum.
The funding will support the acquisition of properties in six ongoing redevelopment projects between now and 2027-28.
Additionally, the URA must collaborate with the government to review and refine its operational and financial model by 2026, ensuring long-term sustainability regardless of market fluctuations.
〈Hong Kong Business, June 6, 2025〉Retail sales in April, provisionally estimated at $28.9b, dropped 2.3% year-on-year (YoY), the Census & Statistics Department reported.
Online sales accounted for 8.1% of the total retail sales, down 3.5% YoY. The value of commodities in supermarkets also fell 2.4% YoY.
There were also declines in the value of sales in the following categories: jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts (-1.7%); apparel (-5.6%); motor vehicles and parts (-53.4%); fuels (-12.5%); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (-5.1%); furniture and fixtures (-16.7%); and optical items (-0.2%).
〈Asian Post, June 5, 2025〉Hong Kong 's economic growth is projected to moderate to 1.9% in 2025 amidst persistent external headwinds, according to the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO).
The agency warned that without stronger and more targeted policy actions, the city may struggle to maintain stability and its competitive edge amid rising global trade tensions and internal structural challenges.
Economic growth slowed to 2.5% in 2024, weighed down by weak domestic consumption and continued sluggishness in real estate investment.
〈Hong kong Business, June 4, 2025〉The sale and purchase agreements for building units in Hong Kong dropped to 6,442 in May 2025, the Land Registry reported. This is a 10.9% decrease from April and 12.5% lower than May 2024.
The 12-month moving average fell slightly to 5,643, down 1.3% from April but still 17.1% higher than last year.
Total transaction value was $49.8b, down 0.5% from April and 20% below May 2024.
Residential unit sales numbered 5,105, a 10.3% decline from April and 8% lower than last May. Their total value dropped 9.4% month-on-month and 28.3% year-on-year to $38.2b.
〈RTHK News, June 3, 2025〉Former Morgan Stanley Asia chairman Stephen Roach has changed his tune on Hong Kong's prospects, admitting in a new interview that he was wrong to predict the city's demise a year ago, and he now thinks the US-China trade war is giving the SAR a chance to shine.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Roach said the conflict between the world's two largest economies is providing Hong Kong with "more of an opportunity than a threat, as I had originally envisioned."
In a controversial column, titled "It pains me to say Hong Kong is over" published in February 2024, Roach had argued that Hong Kong's close economic links to the mainland would be a drag on the city, drawing rebuttals from experts and officials in SAR.
