Hong Kong home prices soften for second straight month in June, easing 1.2%

HONG KONG - Hong Kong’s private home prices eased 1.2 per cent in June, the second monthly decline in a row, as more property developers launched new flats at steep discounts to boost sales.

The fall in June in one of the world’s most expensive property markets followed a revised 1.3 per cent drop in May from April, official data showed on July 29. For the first six months, home prices have eased 3.1 per cent.

Home prices lost steam in May after rising for two months in a row, thanks to the

lifting of all property purchase curbs,

as realtors said much of the pent-up home-buying demand has been sated.

In late February, Hong Kong removed all additional stamp duties for foreign and second-home buyers, as well as for those selling flats within two years of buying them. This was after prices had plunged more than 20 per cent from their 2021 peak, hurt by higher mortgage rates, an outflow of talent, and a weak market outlook.

Realtors expected prices would continue to soften until banks in the city start to cut interest rates.

Earlier in July, major property developer Sun Hung Kai Properties won a bid to acquire a land parcel in the New Territories at a floor price of more than 50 per cent cheaper than that of a similar parcel sold two years ago.

Addressing the lacklustre demand in the property market, the government said in early July that it would sell only one residential site in the July-September quarter, after no land was sold for the first time in the first three months of 2024. REUTERS