Departing Hong Kong property investors haunted by same dilemma of 1997, where will the best real estate returns be found?
- Hong Kong is now facing its biggest exodus since 1997 amid concerns over the National Security Law and strict social-distancing measures
- Mature residential property markets such as London and Vancouver may offer better prospects in years ahead, some analysts say
Ahead of Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997, it is estimated that between half a million and a million people left the city while others bought property in locations favoured by Hong Kong migrants, such as Canada and the UK, in anticipation of a widespread slump in home prices.
However, in the quarter century since the handover, investment in Hong Kong property – already expensive relative to other developed markets – has been one of the safest bets in the world and thousands of new mass market and luxury flats have sprung up from the New Territories to Repulse Bay.
Those who left Hong Kong and invested in certain suburbs of cities such as London, Vancouver and Sydney have not missed out on the global property boom though, with fivefold increases in average home prices in some areas.
Hong Kong is now facing its biggest exodus since 1997 amid concerns over the introduction of the national security law and strict social-distancing measures to cope with outbreaks of Covid-19. Over 120,000 people have left since 2020 and the city’s resilient property market is starting to show the strain, amid interest rate hikes in the US and slowing economic growth at home. Hong Kong’s currency is pegged to the US dollar.