There is unlikely to be much of an upturn in prices and transactions in the luxury residential property sector during the Year of the Rabbit as long as local economic indicators remain gloomy, FPD Realty managing director Frank Marriott says.
He said record high unemployment, the failure of the various international trust and investment corporations (Itics) and the overall negative economic sentiment in Hong Kong were dragging on the local residential property market.
He said these factors as well as some international indicators would affect buying sentiment and keep prices and transactions subdued in the short to medium-term.
After a slight recovery in the market in October and November last year - when prices jumped between 10 and 15 per cent - the luxury market has once again hit the doldrums, according to FPD Realty.
'January was the worst month in terms of volume of sales,' Mr Marriott said.
'We have had some bad economic news and we have had the collapse of the Itics.' Mr Marriott said that what was really lacking was any confidence that there would be a turnaround in the economy.
