Hong Kong December home prices extend record run

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong home prices shattered records for the second consecutive month, reaching yet another life-time high in December, the latest government data released on Friday showed.

Private home prices climbed for nine consecutive months, edging up 0.07 per cent in December when compared to the previous historic high a month ago, according to provisional data from the Rating and Valuation Department.

The Asian financial hub has the world's least affordable housing, with flats costing 18 times the median household income, according to the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey published earlier this week.

Although making housing more affordable is a top priority for the current government, home prices have surged by almost 50 per cent since outgoing leader Leung Chun Ying took office in July 2012, pushing some 200,000 residents to live in cages, industrial buildings and sub-par partitioned units.

In an effort to reign in an overheated property market, the government raised stamp duties to 15 per cent of the transaction value early in November, exempting first time buyers.

Real estate consultants, including JLL and Savills, said late last year they expected residential prices in 2017 to continue rising by five per cent.

REUTERS