Hong Kong home prices fell 15.6 per cent in 2022, ending 13-year rising trend
- The 15.6 per cent decline in the lived-in home price index last year was the biggest since a 32.5 per cent plunge during the Asian financial crisis in 1998
- The index fell for a seventh month in December for its longest losing streak since the Sars outbreak in 2003
An index tracking live-in home prices sank 15.6 per cent in 2022 from a year earlier, according to data released by the Rating and Valuation Department on Friday, the most since the 32.5 per cent plunge in 1998. That included a seventh month of declines in December, the longest losing streak since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak in 2003.
The index has slumped 16.5 per cent since hitting a record high in September 2021. Flats measuring 431 sq ft to 752 sq ft fell the most last year at 16.1 per cent, including a 2.2 per cent drop in December.
The market should, however, begin to rebound as a rally in stock prices boosts equity wealth and China’s zero-Covid pivot shores up investor confidence, according to Lee Shu-kam, head of the economics and finance department at Shue Yan University. The reopening of borders earlier this month could also attract fresh capital to the property market, analysts said.