Secondary-market sales down 30pc as new flats lure buyers
Home sales in Hong Kong's secondary market fell 30 per cent week on week last week as purchasing power was absorbed by the primary housing sector - a trend that is expected to continue as new projects are launched in coming weeks.
According to Ricacorp Properties, 220 flats were sold in the 10 housing estates it monitored during the week from October 15 to 21, the lowest weekly sales tally recorded by the agency in the past 15 weeks and down from 312 flats sold in the previous week.
Ricacorp Properties director David Chan said developers launched a number of new projects this month, which had drawn purchasing power away from the secondary market. In addition, some flat owners had raised their asking prices in anticipation of hot money flowing into the market and pushing up prices as a result of the third round of monetary easing measures in the United States.
Weekly home sales in the secondary market could drop below 200 in the coming weeks, Chan said.
A similar picture was captured in a survey by Midland Realty.
The estate agency found that 120 flats were sold in the 35 housing estates it monitored between October 15 and 21.
This represented a decline of 23 per cent on the 156 flats sold on the monitored estates in the previous week.
Hong Kong Property Services (Agency) said 69,503 flats were sold from January 1 to October 19, which is about 7 per cent below the 75,117 deals achieved over the same period last year.
Total value of sales amounted to HK$376.86 billion, up 1 per cent from the same period in 2011.
Hong Kong Property said sales activities of properties valued from HK$5 million to HK$10 million were active during the period, with 14,612 deals sold, up 15 per cent from the same period in 2011.
