Buyers fail to spur recovery

RECOVERY in Hong Kong's second-hand flat market still appears a long way off, as prices continue to drop each month.

Flat sales at new developments have received an enthusiastic response recently. But the momentum has not carried through to the secondary market, where buyers remain reluctant.

Prices at North Point, Quarry Bay and Chai Wan were almost unchanged last month, according to property consultants Brooke Hillier Parker (BHP).

At the City Garden, Fortress Garden and Tanner Garden estates in North Point, asking prices dropped by about one per cent to $6,099 per square foot, down from $6,174 the month before.

Prices rose by $98 per sq ft from $5,773 in February at Taikoo Shing, Kornhill and Lei King Wan in Quarry Bay.

Chai Wan showed the biggest increase in the districts surveyed this month, with prices rising more than 1.5 per cent from $5,546 per sq ft to $5,636.

On a yearly basis, flat prices in all the estates surveyed have fallen.

The biggest drop was in North Point, where prices have slumped almost three per cent from $6,282 per sq ft in March 1994.

Smaller falls were recorded at the Quarry Bay estates, where average asking prices are now $18 below those recorded at the same time last year.

In Chai Wan, asking prices are now $24 lower than 12 months ago.