Hong Kong home purchases buoyed by mortgage cap relaxation, jump 16 per cent in October

Home purchases in Hong Kong grew 16.1 per cent month on month in October after two consecutive months of declines, lifted by the government’s relaxation of mortgage caps for first-time buyers as part of an economic stimulus package.

The registrations of about 4,000 units changed hands in October, an increase of 16.1 per cent from September but 5.7 per cent lower than the same month last year, the Land Registry said on Monday. These excluded units subsidised by various government home purchase schemes.

“Multiple favourable news has spurred homebuyers to speed up purchases, and the overall transactions returned to positive territory [last month],” said Derek Chan Hoi-chiu, head of research at Ricacorp Properties. “Price rises are expected to sustain and [grow],” he added.

Although the volume of home sales rebounded last month, it remained lower than half of this year’s monthly peak, reported in May, of 8,208 units.

The number of transactions for all building types, including shops and other non-residential units, went up 24.1 per cent last month to 5,075 from September, but was 5.6 per cent below the same period last year.

October’s total deal value came to HK$63.4 billion (US$8.08 billion), up 74.2 per cent from September, but was skewed by the HK$4.3 billion transaction for Kimberley Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui and the HK$14.6 billion in non-residential deals at Cityplaza in Tai Koo district.