If Hong Kong property market enters downward cycle, we will consider easing measures, says monetary authority chief
- The developer has priced the first batch of units at its Kwun Tong property at 14 per cent less than homes in the district
Hong Kong’s property market is not in a downward cycle yet, Norman Chan Tak-lam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, said on Tuesday.
“If the property market enters a downward cycle, the HKMA will consider gradually easing current measures,” Chan, who was leading a Hong Kong Association of Banks delegation, said in Beijing.
He added that the city was entering an interest-rate increase cycle, but not all banks would follow with their own increases. It was down to commercial banks whether to follow – and by how much – a potential rate increase by the US Federal Reserve next week.
Chan’s comments came after Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Monday the Hong Kong government would not use public money to bail out the housing industry.
“Don’t count on the government rescuing the [property] market,” Lam said during the Hong Kong Economic Journal’s Economic Summit 2019 conference in Hong Kong. “The downward adjustment has not even offset the increase at the beginning of this year.”
How the market responds to the sale of Hong Kong developer Sino Land’s Grand Central residential development could signal which way the sector will go.