Hong Kong sees surge in home sales on weekend after curbs lift
HONG Kong’s property market saw the best weekend in a year after the government lifted the decade-long curbs.
Hong Kong’s ten biggest estates recorded the most sales over the weekend with 27 transactions in 61 weeks, 3.5 times higher than the previous week, according to Midland Realty, which tracks the data as a gauge of second-hand market sentiment.
The new home market is just as robust. Henderson Land Development’s project Belgravia Place in Kowloon sold all of the 138 units on sale in a mere four hours on Sunday (Mar 3), the company said. That is after the apartments received more than 4,400 applications to purchase them, meaning the units are 31 times oversubscribed.
While the weekend sales are a boost to market sentiment, most analysts expect the medium-term outlook of the market to remain challenging due to high interest rates, ample inventory and a weak economy.
“Hong Kong’s urgency to restore vigour to its wheezy housing market is evident in its latest, decisive steps,” Patrick Wong, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst said on Monday. “It could take the heavy artillery of interest rate cuts to relight the fire that drives investment demand.”
The government last week made the most drastic move to boost the ailing property market by removing all of the extra taxes and loosening mortgage rules. Non-residents do not have to pay a combined 15 per cent tax when purchasing properties while owners can sell their homes anytime without paying special duty.
The sales of all the units available at Belgravia Place are “rare in recent months”, said Sammy Po, chief executive officer of the home division at Midland Realty. “We can see that the buyers’ speed to enter the market is accelerating.” Po expects first-hand transactions in March to reach the highest in a year.
There were also buyers who purchased several units in one go, with one snapping four apartments for a combined HK$18 million (S$3 million), Henderson added. Buyers no longer need to pay 7.5 per cent when they own more than one home, compared with the standard tax rate that is capped at 4.25 per cent. BLOOMBERG
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