Hong Kong luxury home sales recover from Covid-19-induced slump, to hit record high this year
- Transactions of upscale homes worth more than HK$100 million (US$12.8 million) reached HK$46.4 billion in the first 11 months of the year
- Sales this year are on track to exceed the last record of HK$46.6 billion set in 2018
Sales of luxury homes in Hong Kong are likely to hit a record high this year, after activity slumped last year as buyers stayed on the sidelines because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Transactions of homes worth more than HK$100 million (US$12.8 million) in the first 11 months of the year reached HK$46.4 billion (US$5.95 billion), nearly matching the all-time high of HK$46.6 billion achieved in 2018, according to Colliers.
“If transactions in December exceed HK$200 million, a new record will be set this year,” said Hannah Jeong, head of valuation and advisory services at Colliers in Hong Kong. The value of luxury residential transactions from January to November was 60 per cent higher than the HK$29 billion for the whole of 2020, she added.
The surge in luxury home sales has been remarkable given that the city’s borders have been closed since early last year to stem the spread of Covid-19, which has kept some offshore capital from entering the market.
The listing of several mainland Chinese companies on the Hong Kong stock exchange is likely to have boosted appetite for upscale homes in the city from the newly minted billionaire founders of these companies, market observers said.
A total of 71 companies raised US$35.9 billion in the first nine months of the year through initial public offerings (IPOs) and secondary listings in Hong Kong, according to data compiled by Refinitiv. Seven of the 10 largest IPOs were US-listed Chinese tech companies seeking second or dual primary listings in the city.