Hong Kong second-hand home sales increase

Hong Kong home sales in the secondary market rebounded last week as owners offered bigger discounts to draw buyers, say property agents.

Faced with a spate of negative news ranging from plummeting Hong Kong and mainland share markets and an imminent interest rate rise, individual home owners preferred to cash in properties instead of holding them.

During the week to Sunday, ) 85 units were sold at 50 estates tracked by Ricacorp Properties, an increase of 1 per cent from the previous week.

“It is the highest since August, 2015,” said David Chan, a director at Ricacorp.

Midland Realty also recorded a rise in home sales in the secondary market.

It said there were 58 deals done at 35 housing estates it monitored last week, up 2 per cent from a week earlier.

“We have seen a further lift in sales of second-hand homes,” said Buggle Lau Ka-fai, its chief analyst.

Transactions were focused in the New Territories, with sales growing 40 per cent week on week.

There were 38 deals done in New Territories for the week of January 11 to 17, compared with 27 a week earlier, according to data from 35 housing estates monitored by Midland Realty.

About 47 per cent of the 38 transactions concluded in the New Territories were under HK$4 million each, up from 40.7 per cent the previous week.

“The lump sum amounts for more units are declining as home prices are falling,” Lau said.

There were 16 transactions at Kingswood Villas in Tin Shui Wai, up 33.3 per cent from a week earlier.

Jeffrey Ng, executive director of Hong Kong Property Services (Agency), attributed the increase in sales volume in secondary residential market to more owners being willing to cut their asking prices.

“They fear buying confidence could be damaged by the United States Federal Reserve raise interest rate rise and turbulence in stock markets,” he said.

More room for negotiation would speed up transactions, he said.

In the primary residential market, agents estimated 16 units were sold over the weekend.

“There’s are no big difference from the week earlier,” one agent said.