Today's data selection: Mold may cause fetal malformations or even miscarriage; second-hand housing transaction volume exceeds new housing for the first time

2023 has passed. Looking back on this year, the property market has undergone an epoch-making change - the transaction volume of second-hand houses exceeded that of new houses for the first time. And this huge change will also profoundly affect developers.

According to CRIC statistics, in 2023, the total volume of first- and second-hand housing transactions in 30 key cities will reach 343 million square meters. Among them, the transaction volume of first-hand housing was 161 million square meters, a slight decrease of 3.3% compared with 2022; the transaction volume of second-hand housing was 181 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 33%, and the transaction scale hit a new high.

The transaction volume of second-hand houses exceeds that of new houses. This situation has only appeared in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai in the past few years, but it will almost bloom in 2023.

According to the China Index Research Institute, the proportion of transactions in the mid-to-high total price segment in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Changsha and other cities continues to increase. Among them, the number of transactions in the total price segment of 5 million to 10 million in Beijing increased by 26% year-on-year from January to November, and the proportion increased. 8.5 percentage points. In short, “improvement” homes are becoming the mainstay of new home sales.

Chinese electric cars explode in Thailand The top four sales of electric cars in Thailand are all Chinese brands

In 2023, China's electric vehicle exports will become a highlight of foreign trade, with Southeast Asia being the main market. According to statistics, Chinese brands will account for 70% to 80% of Thailand's pure electric vehicle market in 2023. The top four sales of electric vehicles in Thailand throughout the year are all Chinese brands, and China accounts for eight of the top ten. Thai consumers generally like the styling, high-tech feel and high cost performance of Chinese brand electric vehicles. It is expected that more Chinese electric vehicle brands will enter the Thai market in 2024.

An online ride-hailing driver can drive 3 extra hours and reduce his bill by 35%

In the past year, the order volume of the online ride-hailing industry has resumed growth, and the vitality of the industry has gradually increased. At the same time, the industry's compliance is gradually improving.

In November 2023, the online ride-hailing supervision information interaction system received a total of 825 million order information in November, a year-on-year increase of 62.4%. As transportation capacity gradually becomes saturated, drivers’ intuitive feeling is that there is “more monks and less rice”. Master Li, an online ride-hailing driver in Beijing, told China Business News that it was supposed to be the peak season recently, but his daily order volume has been average recently, which reflects the increase in drivers and fierce competition in the industry.

Master Zhang, an online ride-hailing driver in Foshan, told China Business News that he thinks the biggest change in the past year is that working hours have increased by two to three hours, but turnover has dropped by 35%. He said that this change is mainly due to the decrease in order volume. "In the past, there were 3 to 4 orders per hour, but now there are 1 to 3 orders per hour. In fact, the majority is 2 orders."

Amid the involution, some drivers have switched from full-time to part-time jobs to reduce the pressure of running orders. Master Wang, an online ride-hailing driver in Shanghai, told China Business News, "In general, the number of drivers has increased in the past year. My personal opinion is that if the monthly turnover is less than 18,000 yuan, it is better to find one with 7,000 yuan or 8,000 yuan." Work. The turnover of the oil truck is 18,000 yuan. After deducting various expenses, the actual balance is only 8,000 yuan to 9,000 yuan. However, the company will pay five insurances and one housing fund, and the benefits will be different, especially medical insurance. After losing his job, he transitioned to online ride-hailing. In September last year, he found a job and changed his full-time ride-hailing to part-time. He said that in the past, he used to earn about 13,000 yuan per month as a full-time online ride-hailing business. After deducting gas expenses and paying the deposit himself, he actually got 7,000 yuan. His current salary is also 7,000 yuan, and he also has five insurances and one housing fund.

The wave of layoffs among technology giants in 2023 will spread to 2024

Entering 2024, the wave of "cost reduction and efficiency improvement" among Silicon Valley companies is still ongoing. On January 16, local time, Google Chief Commercial Officer Schindler told employees in a memo that the company planned to cut hundreds of positions from its advertising sales department. Just a few days ago, Google parent company Alphabet laid off 1,000 people in the reorganization of its multiple smart hardware departments such as Pixel, Nest and Fitbit.

This month, Amazon said in an internal notice that it would lay off hundreds of people in its streaming and other business units. Twitch, the video game streaming company owned by Amazon, also said it would lay off 500 people. Xerox, an American digital and information technology products company, said it would lay off 15% of its 23,000 employees; video game software provider Unity Software said it would lay off 1,800 people, accounting for 25% of its total employees. The game chat software Discord announced that it would lay off 17% of its employees, involving 170 jobs. Discord CEO Cetron said the layoffs were the result of "over-hiring and growing too fast." The company has expanded five times in size over the past few years, taking on too many projects and reducing work efficiency. .

Analysts believe that after experiencing a large-scale recruitment boom in the early stages of the epidemic, as technology companies will invest heavily in the field of generative artificial intelligence, technology companies hope that their talent teams will be more in line with the requirements of AI development, so layoffs will become Be more targeted, smaller, and partially offset technology spending.

Mold toxicity is 68 times that of arsenic. Mold may cause fetal malformations or even lead to miscarriage.

Wang Lianglu, deputy chief physician of the Department of Allergy at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said in a program that mold is a strong carcinogen, classified as a first-class carcinogen by the World Health Organization, and is 68 times more toxic than arsenic. Mold has the ability to cause teratogenesis, which is mainly for pregnant women. If pregnant women are exposed to this toxin more, it may cause fetal malformations or even miscarriage. In animal experiments, it was found that this substance can cause malformations and miscarriages in mice. In addition, mold can cause allergies, causing severe allergic reactions that can lead to death.

Wang Lianglu introduced that common molds include: Alternaria and Cladosporium, which are the most common in the air in Beijing and can cause allergies, allergic rhinitis, and even asthma; Penicillium, which is common on moldy food and can cause respiratory allergies; Aspergillus aflatoxin , common in moldy grains, such as yellow rice grains and bitter peanuts in grains, all contain Aspergillus flavus, which can cause liver cancer; Aspergillus fumigatus, which can cause allergies, infections, and fungal pneumonia.

Due to the humid climate, southern cities are prone to mold growth. But in fact, mold is everywhere as part of the natural environment. In warm, dry conditions, mold just hangs around in the air. Once it encounters water, it will instantly come to life and continue to reproduce.