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Hong Kong Is Not Worried If Home Prices Will Drop 20%, TVB Says
Hong Kong Is Not Worried If Home Prices Will Drop 20%, TVB Says
By Stephanie Tong & Billy Chan – May 29, 2013 5:43 PM GMT+0800
A 20 percent decline in Hong Kong property prices won’t “worry” the government, TVB news reported yesterday, citing an unidentified government official.
Even if property prices fall 40 percent in the long run, the government is confident that there won’t be a large amount of negative-equity cases like in 1998 and 2003, the report said.
A shortage of housing, low mortgage costs and a buying spree by mainland Chinese have led home prices to more than double since the beginning of 2009, shrugging off repeated attempts by the government to curb gains amid an outcry over affordability. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who took over in July as head of the government, on Feb. 22 imposed his toughest yet property curbs by doubling the stamp duty on all property transactions higher than HK$2 million ($257,609).
Hong Kong home prices have fallen 2.3 percent since the February measures, according to an index compiled by Centaline Property Agency Ltd. Mortgage lending has declined to a “trough,” He Guangbei, chief executive officer of BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Ltd., the city’s largest home loan lender, told reporters yesterday.
“We do not comment on reports attributed to sources,” Leo Law, a spokesman for transport and housing bureau, said by telephone today.
Extended Decline
The official’s comments underscore that the government was unlikely to…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-29/hong-kong-is-not-worried-if-home-prices-will-drop-20-tvb-says.html
Hong Kong – Property curbs work their magic: Tsang
Property curbs work their magic: Tsang
Karen Chiu
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
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Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said government measures have been effective in reducing both home prices and transactions.
In a paper submitted to a Legislative Council panel yesterday, Tsang said flat prices dipped by 0.7 percent last month from March while the number of transactions plunged to 3,427 in April from a monthly average of 5,424 recorded during the first quarter of this year.
It was also much lower than the monthly average of 6,778 homes changing hand last year
The government imposed its latest curbs on February 23. Within a month flat prices had slipped 0.1 percent, the paper said.
This reverses “the exuberant situation in the first two months of 2013 when flat prices on average rose by….
Hong Kong – Predictions of a huge price fall have been wildly exaggerated
Predictions of a huge price fall have been wildly exaggerated
Despite the government’s cooling measures, Hong Kong flat prices have stabilised recently
Home prices might have fallen slightly as a result of government measures to cool down the property market three months ago, but will they go on to decline as dramatically as some analysts have predicted?
Not if latest price trends are an indication.
In late February the government doubled stamp duties levied on the sale of homes and non-residential properties valued at more than HK$2 million. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority also ordered banks to increase the amount of capital they hold against new residential mortgages, causing some banks to raise mortgage rates by 25 basis points.
The market immediately responded with a significant drop in transactions and ….
Related articles
- Hong Kong Home Prices at Record Gap to Sales (bloomberg.com)
- Hong Kong property investors switch search to overseas markets (boomtownasia.wordpress.com)
- Hong Kong – Developers switch strategy on sales (boomtownasia.wordpress.com)
- Reverse migration: why are Hong Kong’s immigrants leaving Canada? (vancouverobserver.com)
- 170,000 living in subdivided flats in Hong Kong: study (terradaily.com)
- Hong Kong – Shutting up shops (boomtownasia.wordpress.com)
- Luxury property prices in major financial hubs set to soar (thempreport.com.au)
- Hong Kong. My future home. . . maybe (cantstayput.com)
Hong Kong – Developers switch strategy on sales
Big builders to focus on selling investment properties and mainland projects after new rules cause sharp fall in HK housing deals
Hong Kong’s big property developers are expected to speed up the sale of their investment properties and mainland projects in a bid to counter the impact of slackening demand for housing in the city, analysts say.
Sales of new homes plunged this month, with just 50 deals made in the wake of measures aimed at curbing demand and price growth in the market.
Read more: http://www.scmp.com/business/article/1246817/developers-switch-strategy-sales
Hong Kong property investors switch search to overseas markets
Cooling measures and a strong currency in HK are helping to divert cash to foreign markets
“There has definitely been a pick-up in buyer interest in overseas properties in recent months. Inquiries for international residential properties are up by 10 per cent since the government announced its latest control measures on the market in February,” said Denis Ma On-ping, local director of the Greater Pearl River Delta Research at agency Jones Lang LaSalle.
Hong Kong – Shutting up shops
Thursday, May 16, 2013
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Rents at some of Hong Kong’s most upscale retail areas are now the highest in the world. Landlords have been ruthless. They have hiked rents continuously, taking them to such a high level that even well-heeled retailers are now moving out.
One shop, for example, has seen rents rise five times in the past six years.
All this has led to many empty shops, prompting experts to warn the bubble in Hong Kong’s commercial property market is about to burst.
Boom Town Asia 