Surging property developers take Hang Seng higher as investors cheer Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s ‘housing for all’ pledge
- Hong Kong’s Chief Executive revealed a raft of measures aimed at boosting the city’s housing stock in her policy address
- Liquor giant Kweichow Moutai lost 3.4 per cent to 1,170 yuan, dragging Chinese stocks lower
The Hang Seng Index closed higher, as property firms led gains after investors cheered housing and land policies announced by the Hong Kong’s embattled Chief Executive in her policy address. The benchmark gauge 0.6 per cent at 26,664.28.
In China, all leading benchmarks ended lower, as investors’ concerns about an economic slowdown resurfaced. The CSI 300 Index, which tracks blue chips listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, closed down 0.3 per cent at 3,922.69, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.4 per cent to 2,978.71.
In the city’s first televised policy address ever, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor unveiled details of the Land Sharing Scheme announced last year. Starting early next year, private developers will be invited to hand part of their farmland to the government in exchange for higher density and quicker development approval.
Meanwhile, the government is ready to back first-home buyers by raising the lending cap on how much they can borrow.
“There is a positive feeling that the scarce land resources could now unlock their market value faster than before, with policies such as the Land Sharing Scheme which I expect would facilitate more collaboration between the government and developers to quicken up new-house build,” said Kenny Tang Sing-hing, chief executive of Royton Securities.
Tang said while the government’s housing policy appears to be more aggressive than initially expected, the measures’ impact on Hong Kong stocks would be relatively muted, because the state of the housing market also depends on the economy.
Property stocks helped lift the Hang Seng Index higher, with the properties sub-index up 2.7 per cent at 38,675.12.