Home sales in Hong Kong’s secondary market drop to 21-year low in 2016
Meanwhile, the total value of new home sales in the city hits the highest level since 1995 as wealthy buyers snap up luxury property
Home sales in Hong Kong’s secondary market plunged to a 21-year low in 2016 as government cooling measures dampened demand, while a buying frenzy in the primary market pushed the value of new home sales to the highest level since 1995.
The extraordinary divergence between primary and secondary home sales emerged in data from the Land Registry released on Wednesday, which showed sales of second-hand homes dropped one per cent to 40,466 deals.
“It is the lowest since our firm started the study in 1996,” said Buggle Lau, chief analyst at Midland Realty.
The total value of secondary sales also fell to a three-year low of HK$241.5 billion, he said.
Although the number of transactions in the primary sector dropped slightly, by 0.02 per cent from a year earlier to 16,796, the total value surged 16 per to HK$188.4 billion last year - the highest since 1995.
Derek Chan, head of research at Ricacrop Properties, said this was because of an increasing number of cash-rich buyers snapping up super-deluxe apartments in the last quarter.