Hongkongers are selling their homes at huge losses to flee the city as coronavirus weighs on economy
- Losses reflect the desperation among some of the city's homeowners given the constant flow of bad news, according to Midland Realty’s agent
- Applications for ‘Certificates of No Criminal Conviction’ from the police have continued to increase as part of emigration requirements
Homeowners are dumping their properties in Hong Kong for as much as HK$11.6 million (US$1.5 million) in losses to pack up their bags because of the city’s dire economic prospects, analysts said. More could be pressured to sell into a weak market to hasten their emigration plans.
At Valais in Sheung Shui, a 1,588-square foot house changed hands at HK$21.3 million for a loss of HK$10 million in late January at the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, according to property agents who declined to be named because the transaction was private. Including taxes and expenses, the loss amounted to HK$11.6 million.
In another transaction, a 3,034-sq ft house with a 922-sq ft garden at Regalia Bay in Stanley was sold in mid-February for HK$67 million for a loss of about HK$5 million, they said.
“The losses reflect the urgency or desperation among some of the city’s homeowners, given the constant flow of bad news,” said Martin Wong, a sales manager at Midland Realty. “Some of the home owners feel that the prospects are not good so they want to sell quickly, especially amid the current epidemic.”
The coronavirus outbreak has slammed the retail and hotel sectors as tourist arrivals slumped, breaking the industries already reeling from months of US-China trade war and anti-government protests in 2019. The Hong Kong government unveiled last month a record HK$139 billion budget deficit to help shore up the economy that contracted last year for the first time since the global financial crisis.
