Housing prices decline as sales continue to weaken
The number of property sales in primary and secondary markets continued to drop last week, dragging prices down as well.
Transactions in the 50 key housing estates monitored by Ricacorp Properties in the secondary market dropped 21 per cent to 240 units from 303 units in the previous week.
David Chan Tai-wai, a director at Ricacorp Properties, said the average property price for the week's deals fell 2.1 per cent to HK$3,907 per square foot from HK$3,991 per square foot the previous week. It was the largest fall in property prices since April last year.
The slowdown in transactions was sharpest in Hong Kong Island's key housing estates and in 10 major housing estates only 40 deals were completed while Queen's Terrace in Sheung Wan did not report a single transaction.
Kingswood Villas in Tin Shui Wai was the most popular housing estate in the secondary market last week, with 23 transactions at an average price of HK$1,807 per square foot. But the number of deals was down 12 per cent from 26 units in the previous week.
'Many flat owners believe the turbulence in the stock market would not last long, so they are not willing to cut the asking prices of their properties,' Mr Chan said. 'The offers submitted by home seekers who have doubts about the property market could not meet their asking prices.'
In the primary market, Midland Realty executive director Vincent Chan Kwan-hing estimated that only 37 transactions were done over the weekend.
'Transactions in the primary market have dropped about 50 per cent from a week ago,' Mr Chan said.
Louis Chan Wing-kit, a director of Centaline Property Agency, said: 'The reservations for flat views in primary and secondary markets have not rebounded so far this week, even though the stocks rebounded significantly.'
Property agents expected the transactions in the primary market to rebound as Cheung Kong (Holdings) planned to pre-sell its Central Park Towers, a mass residential project in Tin Shui Wai, this week.
The project has been planned to launch last week. But property agents said the project had been delayed due to the weak market sentiment last week.
