In Hong Kong’s property market, HK$10 million no longer buys what it did in 1997

Average prices for lived-in homes increased 2.4 times between 1997 and now, and some individual flats have appreciated by more than 450 per cent over that span

The year of the handover proved to be a high-water mark at the time, with the price index plunging 62 per cent between 1997 and 2003 before a steady rise

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Rickey Chan, managing director of local property agency Dorbo Realty, has experienced the ups and downs of Hong Kong’s property market since the 1997 handover. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:30am, 15 Jun 2022Updated: 3:03pm, 17 Jun 2022

Hongkongers’ spending power in terms of homebuying has shrunk dramatically since 1997. After a significant trough in the years after the handover, home prices have climbed to new peak levels over the last decade while riding a 13-year rise, pricing many buyers out of the market and squeezing people who can afford to buy into ‘shoebox’ flats.

Comparing 1997 to 2021, Hong Kong’s overall price index for lived-in homes – an economic bellwether tracked by the government’s Rating and Valuation Department – rose 140 per cent, from 163.1 to 392.7.

The index has hit a series of records over the past few years, peaking at 398.1 in September 2021 before some softness amid the fifth wave of Covid-19 infections this year.

Values for the vast majority of properties have surged since the handover, and some have achieved eye-popping levels of appreciation. As a result the city has in the past decade repeatedly been crowned with dubious titles such as “the most unaffordable” and “the most expensive” housing market.

These five specific flats, which sold on the secondhand market in both 1997 and 2022, represent the upper end of price appreciation since the handover.

Comparing 1997 to today does not tell the whole story of Hong Kong’s residential property market, however, as the appreciation in home prices has been anything but smooth and steady – especially for individual buyers.