The South China Morning Post ’s Property desk won a merit award in the features category at the 14th Consumer Rights Reporting Awards on Friday. Property reporter Yvonne Liu, deputy property editor Sandy Li and property editor Peggy Sito won for the two-part series Putting an end to gross abuses and Realty strikes in July last year. The articles dealt with the new regulations on the sale of new flats that brought an end to the questionable practice of using gross floor area to inflate selling prices, and how they affected the livelihood of property agents. The Consumer Council said a total of 247 entries from the press, television and radio came amid a clampdown on unfair trade practices and a scramble for basic necessities, like baby milk powder, and luxury gold ornaments. “And, furthermore, multifarious consumer issues abounded: runaway property prices, food adulteration, questionable practices in telecom services, dubious medical beauty service and high-risk bitcoin. The 2014 awards is the second-highest in its 14-year history in the number of entries, after 2008,” it said.
