HONG KONG, Feb. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- The long awaited property tax has now been officially announced by the State Council and is set to be collected in the cities of Shanghai and Chongqing. The tax will be introduced gradually, with each city allowed to set its own rate; initial reports are that Chongqing will charge the tax between 0.5 and 1% of the property's value annually, while Shanghai will charge between 0.6 and 0.8%. It is likely that the tax will have some impact on speculative purchasing of real estate, but perhaps not enough to suppress prices as much as is desired.
Real house prices in South Korea still falling despite 5 months of monthly gains
In the property market, data released this week showed that house prices across South Korea rose for a fifth consecutive month in January, pushing annual growth to a 5-month high, as reported by the Kookmin Bank. That said, at 2.2%, annual growth in house price inflation in Korea remains moderate when compared to many other markets in the Asian region, with house prices still falling in real terms.
Russian monetary policy may be tightened further, but not that aggressively
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) still faces a careful balancing act and is unlikely to raise rates too aggressively, even if inflation does breach the 10% threshold. For one thing, the CBR will want to avoid putting additional upward pressure on the ruble as this is likely to attract more speculative inflows, further complicating the central banks job.
Canadian recovery hitting a soft patch
The December Ivey PMI, which covers both manufacturing and services sectors, declined to its lowest level in a year (50), suggesting that the strong recovery seen so far will go through a soft patch in the coming months, a sentiment reflected in the latest Bank of Canada's Monetary Policy Report.
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