Sales of villas, bungalows and luxury homes in Hong Kong soared to a three-year high in the first six months of this year, as an influx of wealthy immigrants fuelled the hunt for bargains on the top end of one of Asia’s priciest residential property markets.
There were 286 registered transactions of villas in the first half, a jump of 23.3 per cent from the same period last year, according to data provided by Centaline Property, one of the largest real estate agencies in the city.
The sales value of the property fell 15.3 per cent to HK$12.34 billion over the same period, due to a “significant decline” in the sales of primary homes valued at more than HK$500 million, the data showed.
The rising volume reflected the “improved sentiment in both the property and stock markets”, and was supported by the start of an interest rate reduction cycle and the city government’s relaxation of investment immigration rules, said Centaline’s senior associate director Yeung Ming-yee.
Homebuyers and investors are “actively entering the premium luxury housing market, stimulating capital inflows and driving a recovery,” she added.
“Developers delayed the launch of new luxury projects over the past three years, leading to insufficient supply that kept primary-market transactions at a relatively low level of around 30 deals,” said Yeung. She added that the primary market’s total transaction value of HK$4.4 billion was 48.1 per cent lower compared to the same period last year.
