Asia Pacific

Commercial real estate investment in Asia Pacific has seen a general slowdown across the region but appetite for mainland Chinese real estate remains robust, according to analysts.

The mainland faces a talent gap in fulfilling its ambition of moving up the value chain of the global economy, according to a survey released in Beijing on Thursday.

Hong Kong’s overall quality of life has slumped to its lowest level since 2003, with sentiments on housing affordability, freedom of speech, the economy and noise pollution deteriorating the most, an annual local study found.

A Shanghai building decked out like a large pink layered cake appears to have got on the wrong side of authorities after officials ordered the decoration to be taken down just one day after it was put up.

China’s state-run plane manufacturer said it was in talks with Russia to develop and build a widebody commercial jet that can break the duopoly long held by Airbus and Boeing in civilian aircraft.

Transport authorities in China’s biggest cities are still struggling to reach consensus on final rules to regulate car-hailing services after draft regulations issued by the government a month ago sparked fears that they may suffocate the flourishing

China’s real estate market is on track to stabilise despite the risk that any further tightening measures could hurt developers and cause a sharp fall in home sales, according to Moody’s analysts.

A backlog of suspicious financial transactions in Hong Kong’s banking industry was named as the reason for a dramatic upsurge in reports of money laundering.

Hong Kong should intensify its ­efforts to attract skilled immigrants, especially from the mainland, as the population will shrink by 2039 if immigration policies go unchanged, a high-profile local think tank says.

Beyond all the talk of cooling down the credit-driven housing bubble in China, experts say the situation in the nation’s largest cities still comes down to basic supply-and-demand mathematics.