Hong Kong residential sales plunge 70% as slowdown intensifies

[MovieStar]

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong residential home sales plunged 70 per cent in February from a year earlier to a 25-year low as falling prices and economic uncertainty deterred buyers.

"The newspapers keep on saying the market is going down and buyers think they can get a cheaper house half a year later or one year later so are waiting," said Thomas Fok, a property agent at Centaline Property Agency in Hong Kong's upscale Mid- levels West district where he hasn't made one sale this year.

Property prices have declined 10 per cent from their September highs amid uncertainty over the economy at home and in China, possible interest-rate increases and plans by the government to boost housing supply in the next five years. Senior Hong Kong government officials have ruled out relaxing property curbs, which include extra stamp duties and caps on mortgage levels.

Home prices in the city surged 370 per cent from their 2003 trough through the September peak, spurred by low mortgage rates, tight supply of new units and buying from mainland Chinese.



BOCOM International Holdings Co property analyst Alfred Lau has said prices could fall 30 per cent this year.

In February, 1,807 homes were sold, compared with 6,027 a year earlier, according to government statistics.

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[MadrigalWheel]

A million bucks or more for a 60m2 hole in the wall, not only cramped in personal living space but living so close to neighbours that one has little privacy and some even worse, will never see the sun.

HK is a case of real estate speculation gone mad.

You would think that somewhere, just beneath the veneer of people going about their daily lives as normal, lurks so many social and psychological tensions that only recently, and that has started to boil, starting with their youth.

One can only imagine how far the youth there have retreated into the virtual "space" of the internet to find solace and sanity, only for it to fester and breed Amos Yees a few thousand times over. A scary prospect.

Look at the recent CNY sales slump caused by the fear of rioting youth, despite being educated and therefore presumably more rational, the breaking down of societal decency has led to the consequence that literate, intelligent, world savvy youth would still rather cut off their proverbial noses to spite their faces.

Not that I support them, or criticize them, but rather I empathise with them and yet can do nothing to help or pity their state of their affairs; they are the product of generations worth of collective driving to make more money above all else, materialism placed on a pedestal and a proxy measure for humanity and decency.

Perhaps now they see that all that money cannot buy the simplest things in life, fresh air, open spaces, beautiful forests, a light mist on a crystal clear lake, the sunrise and sunset on the horizon of the ocean or even just to look up and glimpse upon the infinite beauty of the stars twinkling at night.

Been there many times before, and besides the good food, cheap (relatively) shopping and vibe, I could never see myself ever bringing up a family with 2 kids there.

Being a dreamer at heart, to me, their society has heavily undervalued the connection of humans to nature and how important it is as it feeds and inspires the soul a lot more than bright neon lights.

So sad to see that the demands of the almighty god of the dollar has drowned out what nature has always so readily gifted to humanity.

 

[winnipegjets]

Hong Kong is a casino ...you don't invest in HK, you speculate and gamble.

 

[JohnTan]

Let's say the original price of housing in HK was X in 2003. After a 370% surge, it should be 4.70X. With a 70% drop, the price of housing in HK is now about 1.41X. That would mean from 2003, housing prices have increased at a compounded rate of 1.02% p.a.

Looks like it's a good time to buy property in HK.