Housing estates in Island East and the New Territories outperformed all other districts in Hong Kong to record the strongest growth in capital values this year.
Data collated by Ricacorp Properties shows that with the year's end near, home values in Taikoo Shing in Quarry Bay, Lei King Wan in Sai Wan Ho and Discovery Park in Tsuen Wan have recorded the best growth in capital value for 2011.
The average home price in Lei King Wan in the first two weeks of this month was HK$8,872 per square foot, up 17.7 per cent from December last year. Prices on the estate peaked in June at HK$9,310 per square foot on average before easing towards the year's end. In Taikoo Shing, the average home price peaked in May at HK$10,550 per square foot, but early this month was still up 17 per cent on the same month last year at HK$9,922 per square foot.
In Sha Tin, another stand-out performer was Golden Lion Garden, where home prices are ending the year up 16.7 per cent on December last year, at HK$4,229 per square foot.
Patrick Chow Moon-kit, head of research at Ricacorp Properties, said the strong growth in house prices at Lei King Wan was due to demand for homes in nearby Grand Promenade, where prices continued to hit record highs throughout the year.
'The strong growth in prices at Taikoo Shing was due to the leasing market in the area. The average rent paid in the estate was up 9.3 per cent to a new market peak of HK$30.60 per square foot in September, while rents in other estates grew by some 5 to 7 per cent only,' said Chow.
Higher rental returns in the estate attracted investors to buy flats in Taikoo Shing, which supported substantial growth in capital values in the area, he said. At Discovery Park and Golden Lion Garden, prices rose strongly as a result of having lagged price gains in other estates last year, which attracted end-users and investors to buy flats, according to Chow.
