Poll finds potential HK homebuyers at five-year low

Caroline Zheng

Only 35.8 percent of Hong Kong respondents are considering entering the property market in the next 12 months, the lowest in five years, the latest quarterly survey by Hong Kong Property Services has found.

The agency conducted its first-quarter survey of Hongkongers' intent to purchase homes in late January and received 514 valid questionnaires.

Among those interested in home ownership, 40.7 percent were people who plan to acquire a new residential property as a replacement, compared to 34.8 percent of potential first-time buyers, according to the survey. The remaining 24.5 percent of the respondents are considering buying a property for investment purposes, it showed.

The report also revealed that about 70 percent of the respondents expect property prices to fall in the next 12 months, with 26.3 percent estimating the prices to drop by 5 to 10 percent. And 26.1 percent even believe local home prices will plummet more than 10 percent.

Even if the government fully removes the property cooling measures in the upcoming budget, there is not much room for the local market to see growth. said Dave Ma Tai-yeung, chief executive of Hong Kong Property Services.

Still, the withdrawal will at least help stabilize market confidence, Ma said.

Coupled with expected interest rate cuts starting from the second quarter, Ma believes the local property sector could rise by 3 to 5 percent from a year ago in optimistic scenarios.

This came as UBS said it expects the Hong Kong government will scrap all property cooling measures in tomorrow's budget speech but that home prices may still suffer a drop of up to 10 percent in 2024.

Ma, who is also head of Midland's China division, noted a seasonal boom in the mainland market may occur faster than expected following China's biggest-ever reduction in the benchmark mortgage rate last week

In other news, Henderson Land Development's Belgravia Place Phase 1 in Shek Kip Mei received 950 checks for the first batch of 148 units, making them 5.4 times oversubscribed.

caroline.zheng@singtaonewscorp.com