It wasn't quite a return to the roaring 1990s but Tuesday's vigorously contended land auction suggested property developers reckon the worst is over.
Government moves to cancel subsidised-flat sales, stable United States interest rates and mortgage-finance incentives convinced enough players that now was the time to buy.
Perhaps buoyed by strong headline economic growth figures, long-absent bidders showed up at the ritual barometer of corporate Hong Kong's confidence to effectively declare the bottom of yet another property cycle.
Such optimism is underpinned by a belief that after multiple policy U-turns the government finally has a workable plan.
That may seem premature in the wake of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's botched back-tracking from his 85,000 annual flat building target and muddle over how 130,000 Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats are going to be put to alternative use.
While flesh needs to be put on still very bare bones, the bet is Singapore-style ownership targets through large, subsidised building programmes have been abandoned and the housing market will increasingly be returned to the private sector.
