Prices of Hong Kong’s lived-in homes drop in July, in second straight month of retreat as public unrest, trade war continue to bite

Prices of Hong Kong’s lived-in homes declined 0.1 per cent in July, the second straight month of retreat as the city continued to reel from an escalating political crisis and the US-China trade war.

The drop was slower than the 0.6 per cent slide recorded in June, but nevertheless deviated from the general uptrend in the first five months of the year.

The decline was recorded in a month marked by political tension that reached fever pitch in the city as protests over the widely feared but now abandoned extradition bill that would have allowed suspects to be tried in the mainland became increasingly disruptive and violent clashes regularly erupted between the protesters and police.

The latest data from the Rating and Valuation Department showed that the price index of used homes slipped to 394.4 in July from 394.8 in June. Still, in the first seven months of the year, used home prices rose 9.3 per cent.

The coming months will see used home prices to further slide, according to property analysts.