Hong Kong’s existing-home prices dropped to the lowest level since April 2017 in the latest sign of an extended slump in the city’s residential property market.
Used home prices fell 1.2% in the week ending Oct. 15 compared to a week earlier, according to Centaline Property Agency Ltd. Its price index tracking secondary housing transactions is at a six-year low and has wiped out a gain from the first half of 2023.
Hong Kong’s property market, once one of the least affordable places in the world, has been pressured by rising interest rates and a weak economy. Existing-home prices have dropped 18% since their peak in 2021. Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note last week that they expected Hong Kong residential values to continue its fall through 2024.
Newly built homes, which in the past could command a 10% premium to existing housing, are also struggling to find buyers. There were 20,483 new properties sitting vacant in the third quarter — the most in nearly two decades, according to Centaline data. Some developers have slashed new home prices as much as 20% to draw out hesitant buyers.
One point of relief could come on Oct. 25, when Chief Executive John Lee will make his annual policy address. Lee may announce cuts for property stamp duties as a measure to lift up the ailing residential real estate market, Sing Tao reported Thursday.
