Hong Kong’s home sales up 43.6 per cent in March

Home sales in Hong Kong rose to a four-month high in March, driven by a sharp increase in secondary market transactions, according to property agents.

Industry experts expect home sales will continue to improve in April owing to rising numbers of big-ticket deals involving the purchase of multiple flats by single buyers at newly launched developments.

Sales of residential units in the secondary and primary markets in March rose 43.6 per cent, to 5,856, according to the Land Registry, whose data showed total transaction value for residential units alone was HK$50.4 billion last month, 38.2 per cent higher than February.

“It is the highest since November last year as the secondary market turned active after Lunar New Year,” said Wong Leung-sing, the associate director of research at Centaline Property Agency.

The number of transactions in the secondary market jumped 71 per cent to 4,085 deals in March from February, while sales of new homes were flat at 1,444 deals in March.

Denis Ma, the head of research at JLL, believes transaction volume in the residential market would continue to rise in April.

“Developers have sped up the pace of marketing new projects as sentiment remains buoyant,” Ma said.

The number of transactions for all properties, including flats, shops, industrial units and car parking spaces, reached 7,605 in March, a 35.5 per cent month-on-month rise, according to data released by the Land Registry on Wednesday.

The month-on-month total transaction value jumped 41.96 per cent to HK$61.6 billion last month.

The total, however, better reflects market activity in February due to the four-week time lag between transactions and registrations.

Buggle Lau Ka-fai, the chief analyst at Midland Realty, expects transaction volume in the residential market will exceed 8,000 in April.

“We saw strong sales results at new project launches in March,” Lau said.

Developers have raised prices for their new projects with Sun Hung Kai Properties marking up prices for the latest batch of units at Cullinan West atop Nam Cheong Station by 39 per cent to HK$26,382 per square foot from the launch price in mid-March.

The strong activity in the primary sector may spill over to the secondary sector.

Ricacrop Properties said prices in 50 housing estates it monitored edged up 1.8 per cent from February to HK$12,558 per square foot last month.