Hong Kong’s pre-owned home sales dry up, forcing many owners to settle for losses as capital shifts to new abodes

Five flats changed hands across 10 major housing estates in the city on Saturday and Sunday, the lowest weekend transaction rate in six months, according to data by Midland Realty, which operates one of Hong Kong’s biggest network of real estate agents. A separate data set by Ricacorp Properties reported 93 sales across 50 estates last week, for the lowest rate since February.

“The property price index in July will still be under pressure,” said Derek Chan, head of research at Ricacorp Properties. “Although the epidemic improved slightly in late June when the government relaxed the social gathering restrictions, the positive factors were completely offset by the third wave of the epidemic that broke out in early July.”

The shift in focus among property buyers and investors in Hong Kong, the most expensive urban centre for 10 consecutive years, may offer some relief to the developers amid an increasing glut of who still have between 3,000 and 4,0000 apartments in the pipeline to launch this year in a market that is mired in its worst recession on record.