Sunday 8th November 2009

Dear Reader,

We will close our opinion poll on cooling-off periods for new home sales at 6pm Tuesday HKT, so please vote now. Your PIN is above.

NEW ARTICLE
Cyber-Export
The HK government claims to be exporting its Cyberport "know how" to New Zealand. All citizens should know how interventionist this office, hotel, retail and cinema project was. It should now be sold off, perhaps as a REIT. Meanwhile, Government should rethink the Murray Building plan. Sell it to the highest bid, allow redevelopment, and don't restrict it to hotel use, which may be sub-optimal. Another Government-owned hotel would represent further intervention.

RECENT ARTICLES
A cooling-off period for new home sales
Hysterical politicians are calling for regulation of new home sales practices after a developer used some creative floor numbering and as the debate over the definition of floor area rumbles on. We suggest a less interventionist approach: a statutory cooling-off period, like the SFC is proposing for investment products. Tell us what you think in our opinion poll.

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