Hong Kong November home prices ease to more than 5-yr low

HONG KONG, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Hong Kong private home prices dropped 3.3% in November to the lowest since August 2017, official data showed on Wednesday, as its housing market – one of the most unaffordable in the world – is set to post the first annual drop since 2008.

Prices in the Asian financial hub were weighed down by a weak economic outlook and rising mortgage costs, following a serious COVID outbreak at the beginning of the year.

November’s fall in home prices came after a revised 2.7% drop in October. Home prices in Hong Kong have fallen 13.8% in the first 110 months of the year.

Transaction volume for the year is expected to fall to a decade low but it could have a small bounce next year after authorities lift travelling restrictions with mainland China, property agents said.

For 2023, real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield expects home prices to be 0-5% lower than this year, with prices stabilizing in the second half after an expected peak of interest rates.

Another consultancy, JLL, expects prices to fall another 10% next year for the mass market. It said a high level of inventory for developers due to a surge in unsold units this year would drive developers to offer discounts.

The selling prices of some recently launched projects were 7% to 13% lower than the average price of the secondary market in the same area, JLL added.

Last week, major developer CK Asset Holdings (1113.HK), owned by the city’s richest man Li Ka-shing, won a residential land plot in the downtown Kai Tak area for a price much lower than market expectations. Surveyors said the floor price represented an eight-year low in the area.

Reporting by Clare Jim; editing by Robert Birsel

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