Flagging homebuying interest ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays and rising economic uncertainties could drag down registered property transactions this month to the lowest since the depths of the global financial crisis in November 2008, local property agents say.
The Hong Kong Property Services Agency estimates that the number of registered residential transactions in primary and secondary markets will fall below 4,000 this month. The Land Registry has yet to release the official figures.
Jeffrey Ng, the senior executive director at the agency, said 2,459 deals had been closed in the primary and secondary residential markets between January 1 and 19, down 16.3 per cent from the same period last month.
'It will be the lowest since November 2008,' he said. That month, 3,786 properties changed hands.
In the primary residential market, he said, sales of new homes fell to 459 from January 1 to 19, from 1,000 during the same period last month. But used-home sales edged up 1.3 per cent to 2,000 even as many people were out of town for the New Year holidays. Ng believes the number of residential transactions in the secondary market will fall below 3,000 this month.
Patrick Chow Moon-kit, head of research at Ricacorp, said sales in the secondary market slowed as buyer interest waned in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holidays. 'We got fewer reservations for flat-viewing, as many families were away.'