Property Digest, February 6, 2013
Hong Kong home prices are likely to rise or fall no more than a mild 5 per cent thisyear. However, limited supply will drive up rents by about 10 per cent, according to Knight Frank.
Hong Kong home prices are likely to rise or fall no more than a mild 5 per cent thisyear. However, limited supply will drive up rents by about 10 per cent, according to Knight Frank. The prediction was made in the international property consultant's report on the outlook for the 2013 property market for key gateway cities. It covers the residential, office and retail sectors of Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul and Tokyo. Unprecedented intervention by policymakers to cool markets by imposing lending restrictions, increasing transaction taxes and erecting protectionist measures, would undoubtedly influence a number of markets over the next 12 months, it said. Peggy Sito
The US housing market, entering its busiest season, is tipped so far in favour of sellers that almost a third of listings in areas from Washington, DC, to Denver and Seattle are under contract in two weeks or less. One Washington house attracted 168 offers in December and sold for almost twice the asking price. About 70 people lined up last month for a lottery to select buyers for four available houses in a San Ramon, California, subdivision where, in August, bidders camped for weeks to secure purchases. A plunge in US house listings to a 12-year low is driving up prices and preventing a return to historically normal levels. Many potential sellers are holding off until values rise, while investors are snatching up distressed properties before they reach the market. Builders, reporting their best orders in years, cannot increase production fast enough. As buyers take advantage of record-low mortgage rates, the supply and demand imbalance threatens to further limit deals as the key spring selling season approaches. Bloomberg
