Hong Kong street protests drag used-home sales to 33-week low

Sales of used homes over the weekend were an early casualty of the start of street protests in Hong Kong, with transactions plunging to a 33-week low.

Just eight units were sold in the 10 estates monitored by Ricacorp Properties over the two days while six estates saw no sales.

"The Occupy Central campaign weighed on buyers' sentiment," said Willy Liu, the agency's chief executive. Sales would pick up if the political uncertainty eased in the short term, he said, adding that owners had also put up fewer properties for sale.

Thousands of protesters occupied the main roads outside the government headquarters complex in Admiralty on Sunday, and hundreds took over a section of Nathan Road in Mong Kok, with similar disruptions in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay.

Buggle Lau Ka-fai, chief analyst at Midland Realty, said sales volume in the secondary market had been slow in the past month, even though primary sales had improved. He expected the mass protests to further hit sentiment.

Lau said a spate of project launches last month had absorbed demand from the secondary market. He expected sales of second-hand homes to drop to 4,500 this month from September's 4,800 deals.