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HONG KONG, Sept. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- An update on the labour market is available next week as the Census and Statistics Department (Censtatd) releases jobs data for August on Tuesday 20th. Further to this, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will publish the latest results of its monthly residential mortgage survey the following week. The latest look at the labour market shows it is currently in rude health. The unemployment rate sits near a 3-year low of 3.4% and the number of employed persons has risen for 6 straight months. RICS expects the Censtatd release to show the labour market continuing along the current path, despite the deteriorating external environment. This is because of the strength of the domestic economy. Robust second quarter growth of 5.1% showed domestic expenditure contributing a larger proportion of growth than it did in Q1.
Economic fears hold back UK mortgage demand
The coming week sees the release of a raft of data in the UK including the September Rightmove House Price Index on Monday 19th, the minutes from the most recent MPC meeting on Wednesday 21st and finally, on Friday 23rd, the August lending numbers from the British Bankers' Association (BBA). The Rightmove index, which measures 'asking' prices for residential property, has displayed a remarkable degree of resilience since the onset of the financial crisis; over the past four years, it has only fallen by around 4%.
Anaemic demand for US homes
Plummeting consumer confidence in the US is weakening an already fragile housing market. This is best illustrated with mortgage applications: declining by 9% in August to the lowest level seen since August 1995, despite mortgage rates being at historic lows. This is not a good sign for existing home sales data for August, which is released on Thursday 21st. July's data showed a 4% decline on the month, taking existing home sales to 4.7 million units (annualised). With home sales now 35% below their prerecession peak and falling 14% since the turn of the year, the prospects for a housing sector recovery seem ever more distant.
Riksbank to reintroduce house price rhetoric in upcoming minutes
The Swedish central bank, the Riksbank, publishes the minutes of September's Monetary Policy meeting on Tuesday 20th. Two factors lead RICS to believe the odds are now in favour of the Riksbank using the minutes as a platform to reignite the house price debate.
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