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LEADING property firm Vigers yesterday issued figures confirming the boom in luxury and office prices this year.

  The sectors continued to be the most active from April to June, according to the firm's second quarter property market review.

  Mass residential prices are also on the rise again after a long period of stability.

  Viger's director, Gareth Williams, said the market as a whole was continuing to shrug off political uncertainty.

  But he warned the big increases were likely to come to a halt in 1995.

  Analysts believe rents in Central will hit $100 per sq ft by the time a substantial amount of new Grade A office supply is due to come on stream in 1996.

  Mr Williams said that could lead to companies flocking to decentralised locations and centres such as Singapore.

  He said: ''This happens on a fairly regular basis. The last time was in 1991 when the market reached its top.

  ''Office prices are rising on the expectation that rents will catch up and people will get good returns.

  ''If rents stop going up, the speculative force driving the process up will no longer be there.''   Mr Williams predicted that prices could slump by as much as 40 per cent when demand eased off.

  He added: ''At the moment, we are in a precarious position as rents will have to catch up with prices at some point to give more realistic yields.

  ''But this is unlikely to happen until rents start to cool, which, in turn, will only happen where there is tenant resistance to levels being asked, a position we have not yet reached.''   Vigers said much of the momentum was generated by mainland companies, which ploughed $12 billion into the territory's property market in the first five months of this year.

  Residential rents saw increases of up to 30 per cent in the last quarter. The firm pointed to Swire Properties' Robinson Place being 26 times over-subscribed as an indicator as to how active the market had been.

  Mr Williams said: ''The outlook for the residential market for the rest of the year remains good, especially in the luxury market where limited supply coupled with increasing demand will see prices and rentals continuing their upward trend.''   Regarding the mass market, he added: ''Prices are now on the increase again although we might see an early slow down following the bank decision to reduce the lending limit to 60 per cent of prices.''   The industrial market remains focused on the sale of modern, well-located and high quality buildings.

  According to the report, sales showed strong gains against leasing, which remained stable over the quarter.

  Vigers also said there had been ''strong interest'' in older properties with redevelopment potential.

  Many companies were relocating their manufacturing operations to southern China, said Mr Williams, while keeping a base in Hongkong, and fuelling demand for modern industrial premises.

  About 70 per cent of phase one of Aberdeen's Wing Hai Centre was sold within a week at average prices of $1,200 per sq ft.

  Mr Williams predicted the ''robust'' Hongkong economy would continue to benefit the sector.

  In retail, the popular trend to sub-divide shopping arcades for small-and medium-sized investors continued.

    More notable transactions included the purchase of London Plaza in Tsim Sha Tsui for $810 million, representing a yield of less than six per cent.

  The yield on Chuang Properties' acquisition of the ground floor and basement of the Bank of America Tower for $380 million would be just under seven per cent.

  Mr Williams said investors' long-term confidence in the market was shown clearly by the pre-sales of developments under construction.



Prices to remain buoyant: Vigers