Chilly New Year for HK property market

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The Lunar New Year’s five-day long weekend witnessed very few property deals in both the primary and secondary markets in Hong Kong.

There were no new transactions at The Coronation in West Kowloon, where sales have been high and only one unit was reserved in Chatham Gate in Hung Hom. Just two months ago, 80 units were sold at Chatham Gate, while 620 apartments were snapped up at The Coronation.

Midland Realty noted that only seven units in the secondary market changed hands at the 10 benchmark residential projects.

Deals were observed only in Kingswood Villa in Tin Shui Wai and Mei Foo Sun Chuen in Lai Chi Kok.

The number of secondary market deals is the second lowest in history, with last year’s Lunar New Year as the lowest at four deals.

“A lot of potential buyers and homeowners are not in Hong Kong during the holiday,” said Vincent Chan Kwan-hing, Executive Director at Midland.

“On top of that, the cold and rain also kept interested buyers away from viewing flats.”

Chan added that market sentiment will improve following the New Year as it is usually the time when property transactions pick up.

Meanwhile, property agents are starting to feel the chill in the market. Realtor 18 Property has confirmed that it axed 30 staff, while Centaline Property handed out 1,700 warning letters to its agents.

“These letters are only a reminder,” said Louis Chan Wing-kit, Managing Director for Residential Sales at Centaline. “We do not have any plans to cut staff yet.”

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