Property Digest, November 28, 2012

Presales on mainland look set for record

Given strong transaction volume in the month to date, November presales of homes on the mainland are expected to hit a yearly high, according to a report by Jefferies Equity Research issued yesterday. Last week, 20 out of 33 key cities that Jefferies tracked experienced week-on-week increases in transaction volumes. In the past four weeks, 31 out of 33 cities saw year-on-year volume expansion. In terms of developers' inventory period, Jefferies estimates it takes 8.6 months on average for clearance based on the current selling pace, compared with 8.8 months one week ago. In the year to date, 77 per cent of cities saw year-on-year growth in sales volume. Suzhou in Jiangsu tops the list with 114 per cent growth. Average selling prices in major cities stayed flat compared year on year. Peggy Sito

Luxury house sales in Hong Kong rise

The number of luxury houses bought in Hong Kong last month rose to 90, from 65 in September, according to Centaline Property Agency. The value of luxury-house purchases in October rose 27.5 per cent to HK$2.27 billion, from September's HK$1.78 billion. All but five of the transactions were for secondhand homes; these sales were for a combined total of HK$1.89 billion. Peggy Sito