Market stronger, says housing chief

The property market is improving steadily with an increasing number of residential flat transactions in recent months, Housing Secretary Dominic Wong Sing-wah said yesterday.

Speaking after a luncheon, Mr Wong - who last September was accused of trying to talk up property prices - said there were signs confidence was returning.

'The property market on the whole is picking up in a steady and wholesome manner,' he said. 'Both the levels of transactions and flat prices are pretty good. I hope this trend will keep up.'

The number of transactions in the past few months, ranging between 5,000 and 7,000, were at least on a par with levels from 1998 to 2000, he said.

He said recent bank-rate cuts had stimulated buyers' confidence and flat prices had stabilised after plunging by about 50 per cent from their peak in October 1997.

The poor response at an auction of two land plots in Sha Tin and Tsuen Wan two weeks ago did not paint an accurate picture of the market as a whole. 'You cannot judge the overall market from only two single cases and two relatively small plots,' he said. 'You need to look at the whole picture.'