The primary property market is heading for a 10-year low in terms of the number of transactions this year but turnover remains buoyant, according to Centaline Property Agency.
The agency expects the number of transactions to reach 16,000 for the year which would be the lowest since 1996. However, turnover in the primary market could reach $100 billion - the fourth highest after the record $119.91 billion in 1998, $111.97 billion in 1997 and $102.12 billion in 2004.
'A positive response to luxury projects such as The Arch and The Legend has dominated primary market sales this year while we expect mid-priced mass projects to be the mainstream next year,' said Wong Leung-sing, senior research manager at Centaline.
Growth in the market has slowed to about 5.8 per cent this year from 30 per cent in 2004. But the agency expects it to climb to about 10 per cent next year.
Centaline said housing demand would remain stable in the near future thanks to the number of marriage registrations which had grown for the past three years.
Marriage registrations stood at 40,680 for the first 10 months of this year and are expected to reach 48,000 for the full year, it said.
