The latest interest rate cut and the successful sale of Island Harbourview have failed to stimulate secondary market activity because buyers are being deterred by higher prices, agents say.
Owners of units at key housing estates appeared to be more optimistic, raising asking prices 5-10 per cent at the weekend, but transaction volumes were down, the agents said.
'There was as much as a 10 per cent increase in asking prices in some of the popular estates,' Gordon Tse, senior research officer with Midland Realty, said.
'This is totally unrealistic considering that transacted prices jumped by 10 per cent last month following the first rate cut.' Mr Tse said the interest-rate cut could not allay people's concerns about a possible pay cut or the fact they might lose jobs due to the recession.
More than 1,000 flats at Island Harbourview, located at Olympic Station, were sold at the weekend, lifting hopes of a recovery in home-buying activity.
Recent improvements in sentiment raised hopes for the market, which many believed had bottomed out. Others remained more pessimistic due to the gloomy economic outlook.
