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The View

The View
Daily analysis of the major talking points in the worlds of business and investing with a focus on implications for doing both in mainland China and its key financing hub - Hong Kong.
Residential and commercial buildings in Tokyo on August 18, 2025. Home prices rose 56 per cent year on year in the Japanese capital in 2025. Photo: dpa
Asia housing and property

The View | 3 factors Asia’s real estate investors must watch in 2026

Asia might have sidestepped the worst of Trump’s tariffs, but investors should focus on price growth, Japan’s resilience and the sustainability of the data centre boom.

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China property

The View | Will Hong Kong, mainland property see a recovery in 2026? Don’t bet on it

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Hong Kong property

The View | Rebound in Hong Kong’s Central office market could be turning point

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Asia housing and property

The View | Asia’s housing affordability squeeze shows no signs of slowing

Some of the sharpest increases in property values are in economies facing major headwinds or those suffering from an acute shortage of affordable housing.

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A cyclist rides past residential buildings along a main road as the sun sets in Seoul on November 11. Photo: AFP
China property

The View | Why China Vanke’s debt woes have barely made a ripple in markets

Robust exports, surging stocks and investors looking elsewhere have curbed pressure for more forceful government intervention.

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Japan

The View | Takaichi’s nationalism and fiscal stimulus test Japan’s property market

Despite market pressures, cost-of-living concerns and the diplomatic row with China, other factors have a strong bearing on the nation’s real estate.

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Asia housing and property

The View | An AI-fuelled data centre bubble in the making? Not in Asia

Asia provides strong reassurance that the AI boom is not the only factor driving development and investment in data centres.

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A visitor observes a miniature model of data cabins for an undersea data centre in Lingshui, in south Hainan province, on September 25. Photo: Xinhua
Vietnam

The View | Why Vietnam’s property sector has weathered Trump’s tariff typhoon well

Trump’s tariff blitz has not just provided an impetus for reforms, it has helped address misconceptions about Vietnam’s manufacturing sector.

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US-China relations

The View | Can Scott Bessent see China’s trade counterstrike with clear eyes?

China’s export control regime on rare earths isn’t retaliation for recent US restrictions – it’s a response to overall US policy.

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Asia housing and property

The View | Why Thai property investors can find reason for cheer in dismal 2025

Even with the economy hit by multiple crises this year, not least a plunge in Chinese tourist numbers, it’s not all doom in the hotel and office sectors.

Tourists dressed in Thai traditional costumes visit the Temple of Dawn or Wat Arun in Bangkok on October 6. The steep fall in Chinese tourist numbers in Thailand has been partly compensated by strength in its other source markets such as South Asia. Photo: EPA
Japan

The View | Why Japan’s hotel operators have nothing to fear from tourism backlash

Political turmoil, a cost-of-living crisis and ire towards tourists are unlikely to keep Japan from being a top-performing hotel market.

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People walk past shops near Sensoji Temple in the Asakusa district of central Tokyo on September 16. Photo: AFP
Asia housing and property

The View | Critics of Singapore’s property cooling measures miss bigger picture

The housing market will keep testing the government’s tolerance, but without interventions, things would be a lot more volatile.

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United States

The View | How will Trump revive US shipbuilding after years of protectionist rot?

Industrial policy, alongside tech and steel support, made shipbuilding in Japan, South Korea and China competitive. Can the US do it too?

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Disney

Jimmy Kimmel will return to ABC network on Tuesday, Disney says

The TV host’s talk show was suspended six days ago after he made remarks about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

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Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show was suspended after comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Photo: Reuters
Hong Kong property

The View | Why Hong Kong’s commercial property market could do with some stress

Not only can the resulting adjustments help unlock investments, but a sterner stress test is likely to accentuate the resilience of Hong Kong’s banking system.

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With Hong Kong now experiencing an IPO boom that has helped to restore confidence in its role as a financial centre, this is arguably the right time for the city’s commercial property market to be undergoing a stress test. Photo: Sam Tsang
Asia housing and property

The View | Asian governments may have a housing affordability crisis on their hands

From Singapore to Seoul, piecemeal efforts to expand affordability have only limited options for policymakers as housing prices rise.

India

The View | Together, China and India can be a tech innovation force

India has shot up in innovation rankings with venture capital as a new metric. More could be achieved if India and China joined forces.

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Asia housing and property

The View | Resilient Asia shines as global office market sees signs of recovery

London’s Canary Wharf district is staging a recovery and the US office market has averted a crisis, but Asia remains a source of strength.

Office and residential buildings are seen from an observatory deck in the Shinjuku business district of Tokyo, Japan, on February 10. Photo: EPA-EFE
Asia housing and property

The View | Why South Korea and Japan are turning against foreign homebuyers

South Koreans and Japanese are understandably irked by the ease with which foreigners can acquire real estate when locals are struggling.

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China-India relations

The View | India still needs China to catch up with Chinese manufacturing

Rather than limit Chinese investment and reduce reliance on China, India should leverage Chinese know-how to become more competitive.

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Asia housing and property

The View | Sell India, buy China? Don’t get stock and property markets confused

The stock market is not the economy, and India’s property market fundamentals remain strong despite investors’ turn to Chinese stocks.

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A man walks past a logo of the Reserve Bank of India inside the headquarters in Mumbai on June 12, 2024. Photo: Reuters
Hong Kong property

The View | How closer mainland integration is lifting Hong Kong’s residential market

While the benefits are being felt in the housing sector, commercial property continues to suffer from much weaker fundamentals.

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People walk past a property agency in Tai Koo on July 29, 2024. Home prices have stabilised since the start of this year after a nearly 30 per cent decline since the 2021 peak. Photo: Eugene Lee
China property

The View | China’s commercial property market has its own version of a ‘national team’

While Beijing hasn’t called on any funds to support China’s commercial property market, its strong, diverse domestic investor base is a pillar of strength.

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Asia housing and property

The View | Why Osaka, Bengaluru and Johor are overlooked drivers of Asia property

To spot the big themes and trends in Asian property, look beyond the most widely traded cities and see the market’s true breadth and depth.

Japan

The View | Inflation, political turmoil won’t put investors off Japanese property

Rising prices and anti-establishment populism are not enough to undermine the factors underpinning the strength of Japan’s property market.

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Supporters of Japan’s Sanseito party leader react during the party’s rally in Tokyo on July 21, a day after the upper house election. Photo: Reuters
Asia housing and property

The View | What does Trump’s transshipment crackdown mean for Asian industrial property?

Asian industrial real estate could be affected by US efforts to marginalise China but is also part of the solution to diversifying supply chains.

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Workers stitch apparels at a garment factory in Vietnam’s Thai Nguyen province on July 2. Vietnam is one of the big winners from trade diversion and one of Asia’s best-performing industrial property markets amid the surge in demand for modern factories and warehouses. Photo: AFP
China economy

The View | Why China’s domestic hotels have an edge over Western competitors

Chinese hoteliers are better placed to cope with economic headwinds thanks to wide networks, efficiency and strength in the midscale market.

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Hong Kong property

The View | Hong Kong property market’s sources of resilience finally getting noticed

The city’s property market will struggle to rise out of its hole, but there is a greater appreciation that it is not all doom and gloom.

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