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Nicholas Spiro
Nicholas Spiro is a partner at Lauressa Advisory, a specialist London-based real estate and macroeconomic advisory firm. He is an expert on advanced and emerging economies and a regular commentator on financial and macro-political developments.
Nicholas Spiro is a partner at Lauressa Advisory, a specialist London-based real estate and macroeconomic advisory firm. He is an expert on advanced and emerging economies and a regular commentator on financial and macro-political developments.
South Koreans and Japanese are understandably irked by the ease with which foreigners can acquire real estate when locals are struggling.
While there is a disconnect between China’s ailing economy and its buoyant stock market, years of bearishness are only now dissipating.
The stock market is not the economy, and India’s property market fundamentals remain strong despite investors’ turn to Chinese stocks.
While the benefits are being felt in the housing sector, commercial property continues to suffer from much weaker fundamentals.
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The first four months of Trump’s tariffs have been a political coup, yet many vulnerabilities of the US economy have been underestimated.
While Beijing hasn’t called on any funds to support China’s commercial property market, its strong, diverse domestic investor base is a pillar of strength.
India might be too close to Russia for Trump’s liking, but the challenges it poses to the US pale in comparison to those posed by China.
To spot the big themes and trends in Asian property, look beyond the most widely traded cities and see the market’s true breadth and depth.
Long-overdue corporate governance reforms and efforts to empower retail investors have created bullish sentiment around South Korean stocks.
Rising prices and anti-establishment populism are not enough to undermine the factors underpinning the strength of Japan’s property market.
While capital can be volatile, Hong Kong’s role as the conduit between Chinese and global finance puts its financial sector in a sweet spot.
Asian industrial real estate could be affected by US efforts to marginalise China but is also part of the solution to diversifying supply chains.
If Trump continues to challenge the independence of the US central bank, markets will have to stop giving his behaviour a free pass.
Chinese hoteliers are better placed to cope with economic headwinds thanks to wide networks, efficiency and strength in the midscale market.
The divergence also feeds into two competing narratives about the future of ‘US exceptionalism’, the dominant theme in markets this year.
The city’s property market will struggle to rise out of its hole, but there is a greater appreciation that it is not all doom and gloom.
A recent set of upbeat reports shows markets underestimate Trump’s capacity to inflict more damage on the US and global economy.
India’s property sector is booming, but China’s plays a more important role in Asia and is supported by better fundamentals.
‘Exorbitant privilege’ is allowing Trump and Republicans to get away with behaviour that markets would punish in any other leading economy.
Investors might look past the crisis as a long-term structural issue, but homebuyers, developers and lenders in China feel the pain every day.
While the currency peg is not indestructible, investors should not underestimate the extent to which it is part of the city’s raison d’être.
While each Asian economy has its nuances, recent South Korean trends offer prime insight for understanding the wider regional market.
The strong performance of the offshore market has led global investors to take a second look at Chinese equities.
The decline in the city’s interbank offered rates should be good news for the real estate sector but its underlying problems remain acute.
If unconstitutional acts, unaffordable tax cuts and unreliable security pledges are chickening out, what does Trump standing firm look like?
Foreign investors’ interest has certainly lifted the economy, but the authorities must make sure locals are not priced out of the market.
Some of Asia’s excess savings invested abroad are bound to return home, but whether that trickle becomes a flood is open to question.
The market remains attractive despite the scapegoating of foreign students in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.
The increased vulnerability of US markets gives foreign holders of US Treasury bonds more leverage in trade negotiations with Washington.
