HONG KONG, June 12 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Figures on the state of the Hong Kong labour market are due out on Tuesday 16th. The unemployment figures are a key barometer to watch for the property market across both the residential and commercial sectors. Employment underpins demand for residential housing and correlates closely with rental trends in the commercial property sector. Significantly, the unemployment rate has picked up sharply since last summer, rising from 3.2% to 5.3% in the 3 months to April. This has prompted continued downgrades to surveyors' expectations for the rental outlook across the HK territories in the latest RICS Global Commercial Property Survey for Q1 2009.
US housing market activity shows further signs of recovery
The closely watched NAHB housing market index is due for release on Monday 15th. In May, the headline reading rose to 16, from a low of 8 in January. The forward looking component (expectations over the next six months) reached 27, from a low of 15 in February.
Tentative signs of recovery in Euro area construction sector
Euro area construction production data for March is due on Wednesday 17th. Output is down 9.4% from its peak (Feb 08), but there are some signs in the data that the underlying trend is beginning to stabilise.
Swedish unemployment to show economy stabilizing
Concerns over the state of the Swedish banking system have resurfaced as fears have grown over the prospect of a devaluation in the Lat. This prompted an unusual response from the ECB which this week provided a Euro3bn loan to the Swedish central bank, a rare example of support for a country outside the currency bloc.
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