Money and Finance
- Prem Watsa's 2013 Shareholder Letter - Fairfax Financial
Link to: Prem Watsa's 2013 Shareholder Letter Signs of speculative excesses are everywhere – even though the U.S. economy is still very tepid. The world might muddle through as it did in 2013, but the grand disconnect between stocks and bonds, and...
- Stores Confront New World Of Reduced Shopper Traffic
Best Buy Co. on Thursday became the latest retailer to chime in with weak holiday results. Like other chains, the electronics retailer blamed the race to offer the deepest discounts, a game of brinkmanship that hurt profit margins and held back revenue....
- Is China's Housing Bubble About To Burst?
In China, house prices in most cities have fallen as government policies aimed at cooling the property market start to take effect, prompting fears from some economists that the house price bubble is bursting. Martin Patience reports from Beijing where...
- Building Boom In China Stirs Fears Of Debt Overload
WUHAN, China — In the seven years it will take New York City to build a two-mile leg of its long-awaited Second Avenue subway line, this city of nine million people in central China plans to complete an entirely new subway system, with nearly 140 miles...
- Dateline Sbs: China's Ghost Cities
Found via Mish.Vast new cities of apartments and shops are being built across China at a rate of ten a year, but they remain almost completely uninhabited ghost towns.It’s all part of the government’s efforts to keep the economy booming, and there...
Money and Finance
Mall boom continues despite bubble fears
Thanks to Will for passing this along.
How many shopping malls does China need? If someone has come up with a sound answer for the retail needs of the world's most populous nation it may well have been drowned out by the construction noise from projects sweeping the mainland.
Property experts point to market saturation in some cities, but some mall operators justify their expansion plans by touting marketing strategies built on initiatives such as a better mix of tenants under their roofs.
"Apparently, shopping mall bubbles have emerged in some mainland cities, although some other places still have space for new malls," said Chu Hsiang-yun, senior director of national retail services at global property consulting firm CBRE.
More than half the malls to emerge from the 82 million square metres of projects under construction globally are in China. Of these, eight of the 10 biggest malls are also on the mainland, a CBRE report shows.
Separate research by global real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle shows that 150 malls will open in 20 major mainland cities this year, each with an average gross floor area of 80,000 square metres. That compares with 80 new malls opened last year. The area devoted to malls in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen will rise by 40 per cent by 2015, while space in 16 smaller cities may even double by then, it said.
- Prem Watsa's 2013 Shareholder Letter - Fairfax Financial
Link to: Prem Watsa's 2013 Shareholder Letter Signs of speculative excesses are everywhere – even though the U.S. economy is still very tepid. The world might muddle through as it did in 2013, but the grand disconnect between stocks and bonds, and...
- Stores Confront New World Of Reduced Shopper Traffic
Best Buy Co. on Thursday became the latest retailer to chime in with weak holiday results. Like other chains, the electronics retailer blamed the race to offer the deepest discounts, a game of brinkmanship that hurt profit margins and held back revenue....
- Is China's Housing Bubble About To Burst?
In China, house prices in most cities have fallen as government policies aimed at cooling the property market start to take effect, prompting fears from some economists that the house price bubble is bursting. Martin Patience reports from Beijing where...
- Building Boom In China Stirs Fears Of Debt Overload
WUHAN, China — In the seven years it will take New York City to build a two-mile leg of its long-awaited Second Avenue subway line, this city of nine million people in central China plans to complete an entirely new subway system, with nearly 140 miles...
- Dateline Sbs: China's Ghost Cities
Found via Mish.Vast new cities of apartments and shops are being built across China at a rate of ten a year, but they remain almost completely uninhabited ghost towns.It’s all part of the government’s efforts to keep the economy booming, and there...