Apartment City

The number of new lettings of office premises in Central in July plunged 75 percent month -on-month, property consultants JLL said. It said leasing activity slowed during the summer holiday, with a net withdrawal of 17, 300 square feet recorded during the period. Mainland banking and financial services firm accounted for 91 percent of all new office premises lettings in Central in terms of floor area. They were also active in sub-market fringes, JLL added. The office leasing transactions included Fortune Fountain Capital which rented 8,900 sq ft at Infinitus Plaza in Sheung Wan as it decided to move out of Central. JLL also said office rents in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay rose by 0. 7 percent month -on-month, as vacancy in the sub-market dropped for the third consecutive month. Midland Realty said a 2,729-sq- ft office unit at Catic Plaza, a grade B office building in Causeway Bay, was rented out for about HK$81,000 a month, or HK$30 per sq ft. In ...

A new report says apartment rental prices in Bakersfield, already among the very lowest in the state, have gotten even cheaper during the last 12 months. Rental data company Zumper reported the median price of a one- bedroom apartment in Bakersfield went for $650 per month in July, a decline of 1.5 percent from a year before. The state’s median — the point at which half the apartments rented for more and half cost less — was listed as $1,600, almost 1 1/2 times more than Bakersfield’s. Zumper said the most expensive city to rent in was San Francisco, where the median one-bedroom cost $3,500 per month. Bakersfield was the only one of California’s 10 largest cities where rents actually fell during the past year, Zumper reported . By comparison, July rent prices in San Francisco were up 12.9 percent year over year. In Santa Monica, which ranked fifth with a one-bedroom median of $2,450, rents climbed 2.5 percent since July 2014. Only two cities on Zumper’s list of 94 had one- bedroom ...

RENO, Nev. (AP) — It's a journey that most people eventually take. Fifteen years ago , Anne Carte decided to leave the familiar comforts of home and family to move out on her own. For Carte, who was 20 years old at the time, moving to the Biggest Little City from San Jose, California, represented an exciting and crucial juncture in her life. "I moved to Reno to grow up and be an adult," Carte said. The year 2002 had its fair share of memorable moments. That same year, "Star Wars: Episode II" debuted in theaters, Tiger Woods won the 66th Masters Tournament and "American Idol" premiered on television. One thing Carte specifically remembers was the cost of rent. Back then, the monthly rate for Carte's first studio in Sparks was only $495. For a young person who just moved out of home and landed an entry-level job at Target, an affordable place to stay was not a luxury. It was a b...

Damonte Ranch area is a sign of the city's need for housing in Reno, Nev. The recent influx of new workers combined with near-zero residential development during the recession gave birth to a classic supply-and-demand scenario that saw the cost of housing skyrocket in the Biggest Little City." title="In this March 24, 2017 photo shows a new apartment complex in the Damonte Ranch area is a sign of the city's need for housing in Reno, Nev. The recent influx of new workers combined with near-zero residential development during the recession gave birth to a classic supply-and-demand scenario that saw the cost of housing skyrocket in the Biggest Little City." src="src" /> In this March 24, 2017 photo shows a new apartment complex in the Damonte Ranch area is a sign of the city's need for housing in Reno, Nev. The recent influx of new workers combined with near-zero residential development during the recession gave birth to a classic supply-a...

SEOUL, South Korea — Once or twice a year, activity on the streets of South Korea’s capital freezes as a wailing siren marks a nationwide drill aimed at preparing against a North Korean attack . Cars stop on roads. Pedestrians move into buildings and subway stations. Government buildings are evacuated. The scenes during the latest air-raid drill on Wednesday are remarkable for turning parts of this usually bustling city into a ghost town. But a closer look raises questions about whether the exercises are adequately preparing South Koreans while the threat from North Korea’s nuclear and missile program grows . For many, there’s no real training, just people standing around in schoolyards or other gathering spots, staring into their smartphones, chatting amiably or just looking bored or frustrated. Many schools don’t participate in the air-raid drills and those that do often escort children outside. Leaving their buildings would be a good idea during earthquakes, but a terrible deci...

RIO DE JANEIRO ― Seven years ago, Vila Autódromo was little more than a tranquil fishing village on the edge of Jacarepagua Lagoon, next to the racetrack for which it was named. Like the hundreds of other favelas that dot Rio de Janeiro ’s landscape, it had long been neglected by the city government , and it lacked many basic public services that are standard in the fast- growing wealthier neighborhoods just across the water. But to the more than 600 families that lived there, it was home. “This was a paradise,” said Luiz Cláudio Silva, who lived in Autódromo for more than 20 years. “I thought that I would live here for the rest of my life.” By the time the Rio Olympics are over, just 20 of the families who lived in Autódromo in 2009, the year the International Olympic Committee chose the city to host the games, will remain. The community, which sits less than a mile away from Rio’s Olympic Park, was crushed so that the city could build new access roads to connect Olympic venues . ...