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This paper aims to examine the housing market responses to two outbreaks of respiratory diseases in Hong Kong during the Information Era – the 2003 SARS and COVID-19 outbreaks.

The authors first investigate the aggregate housing price changes during SARS and COVID-19. Next, the authors conduct a battery of univariate analyses pertaining to the relationship between district-level housing price movements and geographic and demographic patterns during the pandemic periods. Finally, to shed light on the housing price dynamics at the micro level, the authors conduct an estate-level analysis with the data of 234 residential estates from 2003 to 2020, focusing on the impacts of SARS and COVID-19 on the idiosyncratic volatility of residential estates.

Overall, SARS and COVID-19 outbreaks are negatively associated with housing prices. However, unlike SARS, the impact of COVID-19 on housing prices was moderate and transient. The geographic imbalances of the epidemic-induced underperformance are observed at the district and estate levels. Finally, the estate-level analysis presented in this paper indicates that the average idiosyncratic volatility of residential estates is 1.5% higher during the SARS period but 3.7% lower during the COVID-19 period. Lower volatility during COVID-19 is likely explained by household learning from the SARS period.

Regulators and investors could resort to efficient information disclosure to attenuate idiosyncratic volatility's adverse impact on housing market returns.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the authors are among the first to examine housing market responses to the 2003 SARS and COVID-19 outbreaks using the Hong Kong housing market as a laboratory.

Shared equity homeownership is a form of subsidised, resale-restricted housing through which lower-income households can sustain their affordability. This paper aims to distinguish two types of affordability within shared equity homeownership: “entry affordability” indicates how affordable subsidised housing is when a household first becomes a subsidised owner; while “exit affordability” means how affordable private housing is after a household has enjoyed subsidised homeownership for a period of time.

Using price-to-income ratios, this study compares the entry and exit affordability of shared equity homeownership programs in Australia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Norway, the UK and the USA. Based on these international comparisons, this study generalises two distinct types of shared equity homeownership models, namely, the models of “share-to-buy” and “share forever”. A new model, “follow-as-you-go”, is further suggested to increase the elasticity of potential affordable housing supply by providing incentives for existing subsidised homeowners to move.

A key finding of this study is that while shared equity homeownership programs can improve entry affordability, homeowners’ exit affordability is weak when subsidised homeowners have to share their capital gain with the government. While many housing policy discussions around the world that support shared equity homeownership focus only on the improvement of entry affordability, these discussions usually ignore the importance of exit affordability. This study attempts to fill the void in the understanding of these two types of affordability.

Shared equity homeownership policy is not only about offering low-income households but also an affordable housing option. It is also about facilitating well-off subsidised homeowners to move up the housing ladder so that the affordable housing option can be freed up for others in need. In a word, it is not only entry affordability but also exit affordability that matters.

This paper aims to examine the effect of housing wealth on household consumption when there are resale and refinancing constraints that prevent housing assets from being cashed out.

Based on Household Expenditure Survey data in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2010, regression analysis is applied to compare the housing wealth effects of private and subsidized homeowners. Propensity score matching is adopted to ensure that the two groups of homeowners share similar household income. Further regression analysis is conducted to examine private homeowners’ consumption when their recourse mortgages are in negative equity.

Subsidized homeowners, who are not allowed to resell their units before sharing their capital gain with the government, experienced an insignificant housing wealth effect. While private homeowners experienced a significant housing wealth effect, the effect was weakened in the presence of a resale constraint induced by negative equity. The results remain robust after the application of more rigorous sample selection through propensity score matching.

The analyses are subject to two potential data limitations. One is a relatively small sample size. The other is that data on financial assets and mortgages are unavailable and have to be indirectly controlled through household characteristics. Nevertheless, our estimated marginal propensity to consume out of housing wealth is 0.03 of the annual household consumption for private homeowners, which is within the range of estimates reported in previous literature.

This study shows that the housing wealth effect enjoyed in the private sector does not necessarily apply to the subsidized sector where resale and refinancing constraints exist. This is not to suggest that the constraints be removed. Rather, policymakers should be aware of the tradeoff: while the constraints ensure that government subsidies are used to assist home ownership, not capital gain, they also bring about consumption inequality in a society, especially in a booming housing market.

Our findings extend the literature on the housing wealth effect, which has been exclusively focusing on private homeowners, to subsidized homeowners. This study also adds to the literature on housing welfare by highlighting that the resale constraints of subsidized housing can weaken the housing wealth effect.

The paper's objective is to empirically study the effects of building refurbishment on the prices of the dwelling units in a contiguous housing estate in Hong Kong.

In a congested living environment like Hong Kong, it is difficult, if not impossible, to have a view unobstructed by buildings. As such, the quality of views is dependent on the aesthetic quality of surrounding buildings. It is likely that poorly maintained buildings will impose negative visual effects on their immediate surroundings. Refurbishing these poor buildings should, therefore, reduce or even counter this negative externality. To study the positive externality brought about by building refurbishment, a hedonic price analysis was conducted on a set of panel data consisting of property transactions in a large housing estate located in Pokfulam. This estate was chosen because its adjoining buildings underwent refurbishment in 1998.

The results showed that the refurbishment increased significantly the prices of those properties which faced refurbished buildings, keeping other things constant. The increments, on average, amounted 6.6 per cent of the prices of the properties.

Building refurbishment can have various scopes and scales but this study did not consider how the characteristics of the building refurbishment affected the prices of neighbourhood properties.

Given the problems of aging buildings in most urban areas, the results presented significant practical implications for building refurbishment and urban renewal as a whole. Developers or property owners may be lured to invest in the refurbishment of adjacent dilapidated properties with a view to enhancing the values of their own properties.

Although previous studies analytically suggested that building refurbishment created positive externality, this study is the first attempt to explore this connection.

International investors have shown considerable recent interest regarding property investment in China via both direct and indirect property. The purpose of this paper is to assess the significance and performance of the China commercial property market compared to six developed and emerging commercial property markets in Asia.

This paper analyses the performance of commercial property in China over 1998‐2007 for both direct and indirect property. Risk‐adjusted performance analysis is used to assess the added value of China commercial property in a pan‐Asia portfolio, with the portfolio diversification benefits of China commercial property also assessed. Sub‐period analyses are also used to assess the dynamics of China commercial property.

This paper finds that China commercial property has shown significantly enhanced performance and diversification benefits in recent years. In a pan‐Asia property fund context, there are clear diversification benefits provided by China commercial property, with these benefits also being evident in the other Asian property markets. The findings highlight the benefits of a pan‐Asia property investment strategy by international property investors, as well as the key benefits and added‐value of including China commercial property in this pan‐Asia property investment strategy.

Previous empirical research into the China commercial property markets has been very limited. This paper rigorously assesses the role of China commercial property in a pan‐Asia property portfolio context. Given the increasing interest by the leading international property investors regarding investing in China commercial property, this research enables more informed and practical investment decision‐making regarding the role of both direct and indirect China commercial property as part of a pan‐Asia institutional property investment strategy.

There has been a growing public concern over the importance of building management in apartment buildings. However, people's views toward the effects of building management on building performance have long been divergent due to a lack of empirical study. This study aims to empirically test the relationship between building management regimes and the conditions of private apartment buildings in Hong Kong.

An assessment scheme was developed to assess the health and safety conditions of 134 apartment buildings. Multiple regression models were then applied to analyze the effect of building management regimes on building conditions. The optimal functional form of the regression models was selected using Box‐Cox transformation.

The empirical results suggested that the presence of incorporated owners and property management agents (PMA) are significant factors in enhancing building conditions.

The sample was confined to single block buildings located in one particular district in Hong Kong. Further research is needed to validate the findings in estate‐type developments as well as those in other districts.

The empirical results assisted building owners in determining which management regimes to adopt should they want better building conditions. The government may also consider giving more support to owners by incorporating them and employing PMAs to create a pleasant living environment for society.

Our study is the first in the literature to provide an empirical test reconciling the divergent views toward the effects of building management with the conditions of buildings.

The significant economic growth and urbanisation of China in recent years has seen increased importance given to infrastructure development in China; this includes airports, toll roads, communications, ports, power plants and water. The purpose of this paper is to assess the significance and investment performance of infrastructure in China, the linkages to commercial property markets and the increasing future role of international private infrastructure investors in China.

This paper analyses the performance of infrastructure in China over 1995‐2006. Using the Hong Kong‐listed China infrastructure companies, risk‐adjusted performance analysis is used to assess the added value of China infrastructure, with the portfolio diversification benefits of China infrastructure also assessed.

The paper finds that China infrastructure has delivered significant and improved risk‐adjusted returns, but there is evidence of some recent loss of diversification benefits by China infrastructure in a portfolio. The strong linkage between effective infrastructure and effective commercial property markets is particularly important, as international investors seek to increase their exposure to China's infrastructure and commercial property markets to add value in their international investment portfolios.

This is the first paper to rigorously assess the significance and performance of infrastructure in China. This risk‐adjusted analysis has enabled more informed and practical investment decision making by international investors regarding the significance and role of China infrastructure and the associated strong linkage to the commercial property markets in China. This will take on increased importance as international investors increase the significance of both China infrastructure and China commercial property in their portfolios.

In Hong Kong, a balcony is often perceived as a “green” provision in modern residential buildings. However, how the market values the benefits of balconies is seldom studied due to the difficulty in separating such benefits from other associated effects such as view enjoyment and security concerns. This paper attempts to study the implicit value of a balcony, the green effects of balconies on the prices of residential properties, and the effect of security concerns on balconies situated on lower floors. A sample of transactions in a private housing estate in Hong Kong has been studied. The sample contains apartments with and without balconies. A balcony is found to have a positive effect on the value of a property irrespective of the quality of the view. The negative effects of air and noise pollution on property prices are also found to be highly significant. Although security concerns are found on the low stories of a building, the provision of a balcony does not aggravate the hazard. Finally, the log‐linearity assumption in the empirical price model is relaxed by applying the Box‐Cox transformation to the continuous variables.

Hong Kong is one of the most dynamic property markets in the world, and now provides the economic gateway to China. Using style analysis, the level of direct property in Hong Kong property company performance is shown to be approximately 15 per cent over 1984‐2000, with the level of direct property increasing to approximately 25 per cent in recent years. The level of direct property in Hong Kong property company performance is significantly below that seen for the USA, Europe and Australia. This highlights a number of key strategic property investment issues over 1984‐2000, relating to the level of direct property in Hong Kong property company performance. Also assesses the level of direct property at the individual property company level, as well as the property company sector level, further emphasising the strategic role of Hong Kong property companies in an investment portfolio. This research complements the previous research by Brown and Chau on excess returns in the Hong Kong property market, as well as highlighting the issues and role of both direct and indirect property for inclusion in diversified investment portfolios; these being key areas of Gerald Brown's extensive property research agenda.

The paper aims to explore the road to independence of the less-fortunate women in early Hong Kong society and their means in passing of wealth after death. In the 1970s, about 400 Chinese wills from the 1840s to the 1940s were dug up on a construction site in Hong Kong. One-fourth of these were from women who had held a substantial amount of property. How they obtained this property intrigued us because, at that time, women were seen as subordinate to men and excluded from the labor market. Why they had wills led to further questions about Hong Kong society of that time and the role of women in it.

The analysis of this paper is based on archival data gathered from the Hong Kong Public Records Office. These data include 98 women’s wills filed from the 1840s to the 1940s and a 500-page government investigation report on the prostitution industry released in 1879. The former recorded valuable information of brief testators’ family and personal life history, amount of assets, and profolio of investment, etc. The latter included testimonials of brothel keepers and prostitutes and their life stories and the background of legalizing prostitution in early Hong Kong. Apart from basic quantitative analysis on women’s marital status, number of properties, nature of wills and number of brothels, qualitative analysis is directed to review the testator’s life of self-reliance, wealth accumulation and reasons of using wills for arranging wealth transmission after death.

In this paper, the authors found that because the colonial government declared prostitution legal, and only women could obtain employment by becoming prostitutes or brothel keepers, they earned their own livelihood, saved money and finally became independent. However, because these professions were not seen as “decent”, and these women were excluded from the formal marriage system, intestacy could cause problems for them. Through their socio-business connections, they became familiar with the Western concept of testate inheritance. So, they tended to use wills – a legal document by which a person assigns someone to distribute his or her property according to his or her wishes after his or her death – to assign their property.

Because only archival data are chosen for analysis, the research results may lack generalizability. Follow-up researches to examine whether the studied women acquired their wealth through their own work or simply as gifts from others are required.

This paper explores the understudied women’s life and method of estate passing after death in the early Hong Kong society. It fills the academic gap of women’s contribution to Hong Kong’s success and enriches our understanding on the important factors that could attribute women’s real independence.