Climate disclosures
The US financial regulator on Monday published a 510-page proposal outlining how listed companies should disclose their greenhouse gas emissions alongside how much and how often they rely on offsets.
The proposals bring the US in line with other global markets. The UK's biggest companies will start reporting their climate risks for the first time next month, for example. Here are the key takeaways from Bloomberg.
It's a significant moment in the long journey to standardize, regulate and ultimately build some transparency into the world of ESG. Back in December 2020 we marveled at the rate at which capital was flowing into self-labelled "green" funds with very little oversight. During the intervening months an increasingly complex web of regulations and systems have been implemented - effectively a parallel set of financial rules for the climate.
Those in favor of light touch regulation argue that investors or consumers will exert the necessary pressure for companies to do the right thing on climate and social issues. Governments are taking the opposite view - that they increasingly need to dictate how things are done in this arena.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong will lift a flight ban from nine countries, including the US and the UK, for Hong Kong residents and cut the quarantine period for travelers in half to seven days. The changes take effect from April 1st.
The move will alleviate some of the stasis impacting both commercial and residential markets. Office tenants are generally taking a wait-and see approach, leading to a high vacancy level of 8.5% for Hong Kong Island. Among the submarkets, Wan Chai recorded the highest vacancy rate of 11.8% during January, according to our latest research. As we're seeing in other global markets, however, rents in central located Grade-A buildings continue to pick up.
Residential market activity slowed down abruptly in both the primary and secondary residential markets amid the latest outbreak of Covid-19. A total of 4,275 transactions were recorded in January, for a consideration of HK$43.4 billion, dropping 16.9% month on month in the primary market and 10.5% MoM in the secondary market.
Inflation
The annual rate of consumer price inflation in the UK hit 6.2% in February, the highest rate for 30 years, according to official figures published this morning. Energy and fuel prices were among the largest drivers, a global trend that shows few signs of abating (see chart).
There is undoubtedly more to come. Russia's invasion of Ukraine will continue to impact various commodity markets, particularly energy and food (see Andrew Shirley's Rural Update for more). The proportion of manufacturers expecting to increase prices has jumped to its highest level since records began in 1975, according to the latest monthly industrial trends survey from the CBI
Yesterday Crest Nicholson said it was already seeing input cost inflation as a result of the conflict, both via rising energy costs and disruptions to the supply of raw materials.

Property market activity
Crest Nicholson also reported strong demand in the UK housing market, with its key measure of sales rates accelerating.
Official figures from HMRC published yesterday revealed there were 96,250 property transactions in the UK in February, 20.6% lower than February 2021 and 15.3% higher than January 2022. The data is volatile due to the stamp duty holiday but transactions remain above pre-pandemic norms (see chart).
Hong Kong will lift a flight ban from nine countries, including the US and the UK, for Hong Kong residents and cut the quarantine period for travelers in half to seven days. The changes take effect from April 1st.
The move will alleviate some of the stasis impacting both commercial and residential markets. Office tenants are generally taking a wait-and see approach, leading to a high vacancy level of 8.5% for Hong Kong Island. Among the submarkets, Wan Chai recorded the highest vacancy rate of 11.8% during January, according to our latest research. As we're seeing in other global markets, however, rents in central located Grade-A buildings continue to pick up.
Residential market activity slowed down abruptly in both the primary and secondary residential markets amid the latest outbreak of Covid-19. A total of 4,275 transactions were recorded in January, for a consideration of HK$43.4 billion, dropping 16.9% month on month in the primary market and 10.5% MoM in the secondary market.
Inflation
The annual rate of consumer price inflation in the UK hit 6.2% in February, the highest rate for 30 years, according to official figures published this morning. Energy and fuel prices were among the largest drivers, a global trend that shows few signs of abating (see chart).
There is undoubtedly more to come. Russia's invasion of Ukraine will continue to impact various commodity markets, particularly energy and food (see Andrew Shirley's Rural Update for more). The proportion of manufacturers expecting to increase prices has jumped to its highest level since records began in 1975, according to the latest monthly industrial trends survey from the CBI
Yesterday Crest Nicholson said it was already seeing input cost inflation as a result of the conflict, both via rising energy costs and disruptions to the supply of raw materials.

Apartments in Store: Developers Eye Underutilized Retail Centers for Multifamily Conversions