Investors have roared back into the luxury residential property market over the past two weeks, feeling that prices have fallen to about as low as they can go, agents say.
'Activity is picking up very fast,' Centaline Property Agency managing director Shih Wing-ching said. 'Prices have consolidated.' Agents on the south side of Hong Kong Island, the Mid-Levels and around The Peak are reporting double and triple the amount of business so far this month, compared to all of April, with sales and commissions up significantly.
Luxury property prices, which had fallen by 10 to 15 per cent in the past few months, had increased by 3 to 8 per cent in the past couple of weeks, they said.
But many bargain hunters, hoping to take advantage of the market downturn, have come up empty-handed as vendors are now looking for higher offers.
Michael Ho Ho-cheung, research director with Hong Kong Property Services (Agency), said while prices in some locations were on the upswing, the market was not as hot as December and January.
Agents also agreed that the recent sales of a Repulse Bay Road unit for $25,000 per square foot and Eric Hotung's residence on The Peak for $728.88 million had given the market a boost.
