Auction Theory

'King of all land sales' gets sour reaction from official press

15 Jul 2012

One can only wonder what Premier Wen Jiabao thought of the news that a premium site for housing in Beijing sold for a record price last week - just three days after he reaffirmed his commitment to...

Writer's family seeks halt to manuscript sale

11 May 2012

The family of writer Zhou Zuoren, who died in 1967, has demanded the cancellation of a weekend auction of a manuscript they say was looted from their home by Red Guards in the Cultural Revolution...

Art lovers open their hearts, and wallets, for charity project

4 Apr 2012

More than 50 art collectors and well-wishers spilled onto the street in front of the ilivetomorrow Gallery in Sheung Wan. They all shared the same goal - to help Japanese children affected by last...

Best-case scenarios

16 Feb 2012

Words of wisdom at auction:

David Wainwright, Zachys Asia, managing director

'Never be in a hurry to buy - you'll pay too much. And never be in a hurry to sell or...

Focus on more land supply

2 Feb 2012

In contrast to last year, John Tsang Chun-wah's swansong budget contained no big financial measures to cool the property market. It instead focused on increasing land supply to keep prices under...

Opinion

Wang Xiangwei

Super ministries may not be the right answer for mainland China

Alex Lo

Church developers remain unbowed by government rules

George Chen

A house is not a home until it becomes affordable

Can online auction by 20 developers trigger a change of habit?

Buying homes online is not common practice on the mainland. But will a forthcoming attention-grabbing online auction organised by a group of 20 developers change buying habits in the property...

Classics rev up a fortune

The classic car market is still buoyant and many people are looking at collectibles as an investment that is also fun, according to Chris Routledge, managing director of specialist car auctioneers...

Elite Chinese and Western art fetches record prices

Chinese imperial and Western classical art items fetched record prices yesterday at art auctions in Hong Kong as buyers focused on top-quality pieces despite the grim economic outlook.

Mainland cities offer fresh lures to developers

Municipal governments on the mainland are moving to ease the financial burden on companies wishing to bid for development sites, and shore up their own revenues against declining land sales.

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Going once

As the president of Christie's Asia and one of the world's foremost auctioneers, Francois Curiel is well aware of the importance of timing. 'An auctioneer has to be fair to the buyer and the...

Sotheby's extends pre-sale deposits

Sotheby's will continue to seek pre-sale deposits from potential buyers of not just premium lots but also all other categories to protect the auction house from buyers with bad credit records in...