Hong Kong developers look overseas as sales at home slow: brokers

Hong Kong developers are looking at overseas projects as residential sales in the city approach a two-decade low because of property curbs, Jones Lang LaSalle and Cushman & Wakefield say.

Builders had approached Jones Lang LaSalle about investing in London and deals might happen in the next three to six months, said Joseph Tsang, the Hong Kong-based managing director of the world's second-biggest property brokerage. He declined to name the companies because of confidentiality agreements.

Cushman said it was seeing interest from Hong Kong developers wanting to invest in London, Tokyo and Bangkok.

Home sales by Hong Kong developers slowed to the lowest since 2008 in the first half of the year after the government stepped up measures over the past year to quell concerns that housing was becoming unaffordable for the general public.

The developers "are sitting on a pile of cash and they need to do something", Tsang said. "I'm not saying they're stopping investing in Hong Kong now, but going forward, if they feel Hong Kong is becoming a tougher place to do business, more and more of them will look elsewhere."

Total residential transactions in Hong Kong in the first half of the year fell to the lowest since 1996, according to data available on the Land Registry's website.