Monday newspaper round-up: Housing, Sainsbury's, HSBC...

The number of home buyers fell at the sharpest rate in more than 18 months in September, dragging house prices down further, a report published today from property website Hometrack shows. Estate agents reported that demand from new buyers dropped by 2.9%, the biggest monthly decline since January last year when the country was suffering the worst of the recession, the Times reports.J Sainsbury is looking at targeting China's growing middle class for a possible expansion into the country. While the grocery chain has already acknowledged it is studying the potential of the Chinese market, new details of its plans indicate it has a particular interest in seeing whether the market could support an alternative to the hypermarket model - so far the dominant format for foreign-owned retailers seeking a presence in the country, the FT reports.Citigroup will seek to portray Guy Hands as a tax exile and corporate raider when the two sides meet in what promises to be a bitter fight in a New York courtroom. Citi and the chairman of Terra Firma have been at war since last December, when the private equity boss filed a claim alleging that the American bank had committed fraud when it bankrolled a £4.2bn buyout of EMI by Terra Firma in 2007, the Times reports.John Thornton, the HSBC non-executive director who lost out in a power struggle for the bank's chairmanship, is considering stepping down, it was reported last night. Mr Thornton, who was overlooked in favour of the finance director Douglas Flint, will leave within the next six months, according to a report in the Financial Times.HSBC is bracing itself for a political backlash today after details of departing Michael Geoghegan's severance package emerged over the weekend, showing that the bank's chief executive could walk away with more than £20m when he leaves the bank next year. The Government has urged the banks to show restraint on pay awards as the economic recovery struggles to gain traction and the public sector prepares for thousands of job losses following next month's Spending Review, the Independent reports.Just days after the Business Secretary called them "spivs and gamblers", many City workers are feeling relieved that the Coalition is in power, rather than Labour under Ed Miliband. Of the Mili-brothers, many in the City appear to have been hoping for David, the more centre-ground Blairite politician, to be elected. The younger Miliband insisted over the weekend that the party will not "lurch to the left" under his leadership, but the reaction of business groups showed they need more convincing, the Telegraph reports.Crossrail has identified potential savings worth hundreds of millions of pounds, The Times has learnt. The company building a new line across London will reveal today that it can point to significant possible savings over the construction of stations in the West End and the City as well as the main tunnels, due to be built from late next year. An insider told The Times that hundreds of millions of pounds could be shaved from the £15.9bn budget when Crossrail presents the Government with an updated delivery cost estimate by the end of the year.Senior Irish ministers were locked in talks on Sunday finalising details ahead of a critical announcement on the stricken Anglo Irish Bank. The announcement, expected on Thursday, will include a final bill for winding up Anglo, the lender at the centre of Ireland's disastrous property crash. It is also expected to spell out a plan to restructure part of the bank's bond debt.How the markets react could have a big bearing on whether Ireland rides out the current financial storm, the FT reports.BP got a green light from Hugo Chavez's Government in Venezuela yesterday to open talks on the sale of assets in the South American country. The group, which is set to sell off several assets around the world to help fund compensation claims made against it after the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year, had previously announced it would need permission from the administration in Caracas to offload minority stakes in two exploration and production projects, the Independent reports.Coca-Cola Enterprises, which bottles and distributes the world's most popular soft drink, is considering a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange. A full float in London, which has been ruled out, would value CCE at about £4bn, comfortably giving it a berth on the FTSE 100. The company buys concentrate from Coca Cola, making, bottling and distributing the drink on Coca Cola's behalf. Although the two are separate companies, and independently listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Coca Cola is CCE's largest shareholder, the Independent reports.