NO COOLING SIGN IN HK PROPERTY MARKET
Prices likely to rise 8-10pc next year, says Colliers
HONG KONG
HONG KONG’S red-hot housing market shows no signs of cooling anytime soon. Prices in the city have climbed 11 per cent this year, defying sceptics waiting for the bubble to burst and government attempts to rein in the world’s most expensive housing market through a raft of taxes and mortgage curbs.
If anything, the frenzy has intensified in recent months as investors have poured money into property.
Buyers have set new records for everything from luxury homes in the exclusive Peak neighbourhood to undeveloped residential land. There have also been blockbuster deals for commercial property in the heart of Hong Kong’s central district.
“Now it is very hot, because of the hot money rushing in,” said Raymond Ho, deputy senior director of residential development and investment at Savills Plc.
Runaway growth has put the city in bubble risk territory, according to the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index.
Even so, mass-market home prices will rise eight to 10 per cent next year, according to property consultancy Colliers International Group Inc.
Real estate consultant Knight Frank LLP expects prices of such homes to climb five per cent next year, while luxury housing advances eight per cent.
One of the reasons why property bulls say the city’s housing market will continue to defy expectations of a slowdown is demand that outstrips supply.
Cash-rich developers are pulling out all stops to entice buyers. At its Cullinan West project, Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd is offering buyers finance of as much as 120 per cent of the purchase price: 90 per cent toward buying the new property, and 30 per cent to pay down their existing mortgage.
More than 95 per cent of the 321 units offered over the weekend sold, said Sun Hung Kai. Bloomberg