New home purchases in China grew by a slower pace in the first 11 months of this year with the government’s tighter measures continuing to impact buying sentiment, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced. New homes worth CNY8.7 trillion, excluding government-funded affordable housing, were sold across the country between January and November, an annual rise of 39.3%. The pace slowed from a 42.6% gain in the first 10 months and a 43.2% jump in the first three quarters. About 1.19 billion square meters of new homes were sold during the 11 months, up 24.5% from the same period a year ago. The rise slowed from the 27.1% annual gain in the first three quarters. “Tightening policies implemented in first and selected second-tier cities in October and November were effective in curbing rapid price growth,” said NBS Spokesman Mao Shengyong. In November, new homes worth CNY909.8 billion were sold across the country, down from CNY941.2 billion sold in October. The area of new homes bought totaled CNY132.5 million square meters, almost flat from October. In the first 11 months, investment in residential projects nationwide rose 6% annually to CNY6.25 trillion, 0.1 percentage point faster than in the first 10 months.

Gucci maintained its slight edge over Prada and Louis Vuitton as the handbag of choice for affluent Chinese women as the Italian brand continues to roll out “iconic and exclusive” products, a recent survey showed. About 50% of female Chinese luxury product consumers with an annual income above CNY450,000 aspired to purchase a Gucci handbag, followed by 49% for Chanel and 46% for Prada, according to a report by RBC Capital Markets, a Toronto-based investment bank. It polled 411 affluent Chinese women who said they were interested in buying a luxury handbag costing over CNY5,000 in the next 12 months. The news that Gucci is still the “darling” of the world’s largest group of luxury goods buyers bolstered prospects for its parent Kering which has seen a remarkable turnaround this year, with double-digit comparable revenue growth across all regions except Japan for the third quarter. Handbags are the most important sales segment for LV, Gucci, Hermes and Prada, and a key revenue driver for the likes of Burberry and Ferragamo. Chinese consumers account for about 30% of the global luxury consumer goods market, the South China Morning Post reports.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp plans to build a global real-time communications satellite network by 2020. Sun Weigang, Chief Engineer, said the Hongyan satellite system will be composed of 60 small satellites operating in low orbits and 20 ground stations around the world. “Once the satellite network is formed, it will benefit a lot of sectors, including marine industries, weather forecasting, transportation, environmental protection, geological survey and disaster prevention and relief,” Sun said when he announced the plan at the Fourth Aerospace Internationalization Forum in Beijing.

Trading under the newly-launched Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect has been smooth, with the Shenzhen-listed stocks attracting continuous net capital inflows. Overseas investors have shown greater enthusiasm to trade the Shenzhen-listed stocks, with total transactions reaching CNY18.9 billion as of December 15, eclipsing the southbound transactions – mainland investors trading Hong Kong-listed shares – of CNY4.5 billion. The trading link between Shenzhen and Hong Kong was launched on December 5, as China moved to further open its stock market by offering overseas investors greater access to the mainland’s shares.

Shanghai received its 100 millionth air passenger this year, making the city the world’s fifth to handle more than 100 million annual air passengers, following London, New York, Tokyo and Atlanta. The passenger tally is for both the city’s airports combined. Mao Weiying, a local landscape designer who took China Eastern Airlines flight MU592 from Moscow to Shanghai, became the landmark passenger at Pudong International Airport. The city’s Hongqiao and Pudong international airports currently have four terminal buildings and six runways. They handled 11% of all passengers at China’s airports by the end of 2015. The Pudong airport, which mainly operates international routes, now has flights connecting with 250 cities. More than 11% of its passengers are transferring to other cities, making it China’s No 1 for transfer passengers. Pudong airport is building the world’s largest satellite terminal building to further improve capacity and services, according to Li Derun, President of the Airport Authority.The H-shaped new satellite terminals at the Pudong airport – S1 and S2 – will be connected with the existing terminals 1 and 2 via underground subways. The complex is expected to be completed by 2019 with 83 departure gates and 120 new parking stands for aircraft. “The city’s two airports will be able to handle 120 million passengers and 5.2 million tons of cargo annually by 2020,” Li announced. Shanghai is expected to surpass Tokyo next year to become the busiest air traffic hub in Asia. Currently, London remains the world’s busiest with six airports and 150 million passengers annually, followed by New York, with 120 million annual passengers, and Tokyo with 110 million, the Shanghai Daily reports.