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This paper aims to explore one question: to what extent does urban rehabilitation impact the housing search cost of the low-income tenants.

This paper adopts the fixed effects time-on-market (TOM) model and pricing model to study the research question.

Urban rehabilitation lifts the subdivided units (SDUs’) prices by around 7%. For the SDU located in old districts, urban rehabilitation gives rise to the rental price up by 11%–12%. The SDUs in the area without urban rehabilitation experience a short marketing period of 16%–17%. The SDU located in the old district that is without urban rehabilitation would have a short marketing time.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the pioneering research to investigate the relationship between rehabilitation and low-income rental housing from the improved search theory. The improved search theory posits that under the circumstance of urban rehabilitation, low-income tenants’ options are limited and the search behavior will be restricted in the affordable areas, and then TOM will be shortened. With the concentration of SDUs in Hong Kong, the test of the search theory is broken down into two hypotheses. (H1) Urban rehabilitation leads to low-income housing prices increase. (H2) Low-income housing located in areas without urban rehabilitation has a shorter TOM.

As the awareness of environmental preservation and of sustainable development have become increasingly pronounced among various stakeholders, such as governments and communities, many businesses, in response, commence to introduce environmental-friendly measures and/or implement an environmental management system (EMS) in their daily operations. Even a service-oriented industry such as property management is no exception. To showcase their commitment to this cause, property management companies tend to obtain different environmental certifications. This study aims to investigate the effect of green property management, through environmental certifications, on property price.

The hedonic price model is used to determine the impacts of different environmental certifications on prices of selected residential properties in Hong Kong. Three districts from different parts of Hong Kong, including 16 private residential developments, are covered in this study.

The results show that ISO 14001 certification itself is not statistically significant in explaining property price. It is only when a property management company has obtained other local environmental management awards/certificates that varying levels of (positive) property price premiums are found. Nonetheless, the authors also find that controlling for other housing attributes, obtaining as many environmental certifications as possible does not necessarily result in the highest property price premium.

Nonetheless, the data sample has its limitations, such as its relatively small size and the unavailability of housing attribute(s) such as orientations.

For the implications, the value of environmental management awards/certificates, from the perspective of the end-users of property management services, is based on the scopes of these environmental certifications; the promotional effort on the part of organizations behind these awards/certificates; the disclosure of information about the EMS itself and the assessment criteria; and the public’s perceptions as to the companies’ rationale behind such certifications.

The study has provided some insights regarding the effect of various management standard certifications in property management, from the perspective of the end-users of the service (i.e. homeowners and potential homebuyers). This serves as a reference for developers, property managers, buyers and users alike.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the abnormal stock return of Hong Kong real estate firms following news of land acquisition and identify determinants to the abnormal stock return.

The paper employs the event‐study methodology and multivariate regression to test factors that are hypothesized to have effects on the abnormal return.

The paper indicates that on land acquisition announcement there is a significant positive price reaction. Also the market capitalization and debt‐to‐equity ratio of a firm is associated negatively with the level of abnormal price reaction.

This study has identified significant positive abnormal stock return following the news of land acquisitions by developers in the context of Hong Kong. It has also documented negative correlation between abnormal stock return and two specific factors of a firm, namely, market capitalization and debt‐to‐equity ratio.

This paper identifies significant positive abnormal stock return pursuant to land acquisitions by firms.

It has been said that people's expectation towards their living space has been increased. They have a higher requirement not only for the facilities it provides, but also for the quality of property management services. Property management is now regarded as one of the important considerations of buyers in purchasing a property. This research paper aims to investigate the significance of the quality of property management to property buyers.

ISO 9001 Certification and HKMA Quality Award (HKMAQA) are used as the measurement of the quality of property management. The paper used a hedonic price model to determine whether there is a relationship between property management and property price and the inference of property management on property price if there is such relationship. Seven private residential estates in Ma On Shan with similar locational characteristics were selected in the research.

The empirical results show that property management has a significant and positive relationship with property prices. People are willing to pay 4.92 percent and 2.84 percent more on properties managed by a property management company that is ISO 9001‐certified and HKMAQA winner respectively.

The implications of the results imply that well‐recognized property management increases the value of a property and attracts second‐hand property buyers, and quality property management adds value to properties and hence increases the property price.

The research has contributed an indication of the amount a household would be willing to pay on quality property management services as a reference for investors, users, developers and property management services providers.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the application of fuzzy logic in real estate investment in Hong Kong. There have been sufficient debates on the literature, providing the theoretical background on real estate investment decisions but there has been a lack of empirical support in this regard. This paper attempts to fill the gap between theorem and application.

The fuzzy logic system is adopted to evaluate the situation of a real estate market with imprecise and vague information. An indicator‐portfolio, rather than a specific indicator/index usually employed by practitioners, is explored to assist investors in risk management. The result derived from this framework is then compared to the property price index. This approach provides a framework in understanding the market without statistical and mathematical models. It tries to stimulate the complex human cognitive process involving decision making.

The housing‐indicator portfolio composition produces an outcome value which is able to reflect the complexities of both the real estate market and investors' expectations. An increase of this value implies that the investment condition is becoming more positive.

The paper reveals that fuzzy logic can provide some insights in an intuitive manner and is capable of obtaining information not found in market data. It is particularly useful to investors without experience in mathematical modeling.

This paper establishes a basic framework of fuzzy logic for real estate investment on which a base is formed as a reference for practitioners and investors. However, they should make references to the specific housing‐indicator portfolio composition in their own regions.

This paper has used a fuzzy logic system to assist practitioners as well as investors on decision making in real estate investment with imperfect market information. With the aid of the system, practitioners and investors are able to enhance their investment decision‐making quality by reducing the risk incurred by such uncertainties.

Asset‐backed securitization (ABS), which was brought into China in 2005 and followed by a rapid expansion, is an important financial instrument for real estate industry. The purpose of this empirical study is to assess the effects of asset securitization on stock market and equity holders' wealth by examining stock price changes upon securitization transactions in China from 2005 to September 2008.

Event study is implemented to test the wealth effects of ABS on shareholders. First, normal stock returns of companies with ABS issuance during the studied period are introduced by running the market model regression; excess returns to stockholders at the time that the securitization became public knowledge are then examined; finally, significance of the excess returns are tested and influencing factors including firm and transaction characteristics are discussed.

This paper finds that securitization generally does not have significant impact on wealth of stockholders; a considerable number of securitizations are even wealth destroying. The paper interprets these findings to mean that securitization is usually a negative signal to the stock market for first‐time securitizers, but indifferent or positive for frequent securitizers. Additionally, wealth effect of securitization on stockholders also largely depends on its underlying assets.

The outcome of this paper will assist companies, banks, and governments in understanding the effects of asset securitization, thus maximizing gains from securitization and enacting suitable polices and regulations. The paper suggests that companies and governments should examine market conditions and promote securitization only when the market is calm. Additionally, first‐time issuers of asset securitization should be cautious of possible losses caused by signs of the firm's insufficient funding, while subsequent issuance can be regarded as a relatively safe financial instrument.

This paper aims to find out whether lagging problems exist within Hong Kong's office values.

A State Space Model with the Kalman filter is deployed in detecting the extent of lagging errors in Hong Kong's office price indices, proffered by the ratings and valuation department (RVD).

The findings suggest that about one year of lagging errors exists in RVD's office price indices compared with the stock market property indices. Also, the finding suggests that the Kalman filter provides a more efficient form of estimates for real estate values and returns.

While most studies investigating lagging problems of appraisal‐based returns concentrate on the US real estate market, studies in this regard for Asian countries (or cities) are few and far between. Hong Kong, in particular, is worth studying, considering its established role as a financial centre in South East Asia. This paper also provides some insights for further studies on the prediction of future real estate values, in particular those with fewer transactions.

This study aims to examine whether Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification yields additional premiums for Shanghai’s office rental sector.

The hedonic model is utilized to evaluate the impact of LEED, as well as of other factors, on the rental values of 59 Grade A office buildings in Shanghai, including 23 LEED-certified buildings and 36 non-LEED-certified buildings.

It is found that rental values of buildings with LEED are about 12.8 per cent than those of buildings without the same certification. Other factors, for instance accessibility to facilities such as subway station and 4-star hotels, the availability of catering services in surrounding areas as well as the building’s location (i.e. inside the CBD) also are significantly positively correlated with office rents in the sample commercial buildings.

Besides being one of the earlier contributions to the literature with regard to the study of the impact of green certifications in China’s office market, the findings in this study also provide some empirical evidence for stakeholders, such as developers, investors, property managers and market practitioners, to evaluate the introduction of green features (and/or green certifications such as LEED) as an investment decision.

Numerous studies suggest that announcements of capital offerings cause abnormal price reaction in stock markets. However, despite extensive research, relevant studies on the property sector are still relatively scarce, especially in the case of Hong Kong. The determinants of the post‐offering price effects, which vary across industries and regions, are yet to be identified. This paper aims to examine the abnormal stock return phenomenon of Hong Kong property developers and construction companies surrounding the announcement and offer dates of capital issuances.

It employs the event‐study methodology and regression analysis to verify such effects.

The major findings are: on equity offering announcements, there is a significant negative price reaction; the pre‐offering debt/equity ratio of a firm is significantly associated with the level of abnormal price reactions; and on debt offerings there is, to the contrary, a modest increase in stock prices.

This study has identified a set of determinants of the post‐offering stock price effects.

It can be concluded that there is evidence of abnormal price effects over the announcement and offer dates of capital issuances with unique characteristics of the property and construction sectors in Hong Kong.