Hong Kong property deals double to near 3-year high as scrapping of cooling measures spurs buying demand
- Sales of new and second-hand homes shot up by 115 per cent to 8,551 units from March, Land Registry data released on Friday showed
- However, property sales this month are likely to moderate as fading hopes of a cut in interest rates dampen sentiment, analysts said
Sales of new and second-hand homes shot up by 115 per cent to 8,551 units from March, Land Registry data released on Friday showed.
Various government schemes to attract more talent into Hong Kong is also helping investment sentiment, he added.
In March, when property transactions rose by more than half to 5,013, home prices climbed for the first time in 11 months. Data from the Rating and Valuation Department in late April showed prices of second-hand homes had gone up 1.06 per cent. The increase was broad-based, with all sizes of house seeing a gain.
“Waning expectations of US interest rate cuts will weaken overall sentiment in the housing market,” Kwok said. “We foresee that residential property transaction will remain active in May, yet lower than that in April.”
He said developers are likely to carry on offering big discounts as they try to shift “a considerable amount of inventory” exacerbated by significant new supply in the pipeline.
“This is beneficial to the housing market,” said Kwok.
One of those offering discounts is Hong Kong developer CSI Properties, which put 104 units at its new Topside Residences project in Kowloon up for sale on Friday evening.
The developer sold 53 of the 104 units it put up for sale on Friday as of9pm.
CSI Properties released the price list for the first batch of flats last week. Ranging from one to three-bedrooms with areas from 269 to 545 square feet, they are priced at HK$4.79 million to HK$11.58 million, or HK$17,818 to HK$21,261 per square foot.
The average price per sq ft after discount is HK$19,388, which is 19 per cent lower than the HK$23,928 per sq ft for the first batch of 50 units at Henderson Land’s Arbour project launched in November 2020 in the same area.
Topside Residences, located in Yau Ma Tei, comprises 259 units in total.