Hong Kong private home prices last month rebounded from the lowest in eight and a half years, snapping four consecutive months of decline, official data showed on Wednesday.
Home prices rose 0.35 percent month-on-month in April, but were still down 7.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest data from the Rating and Valuation Department.
The costs of residential properties decreased by 1.21 percent in the first four months of the year. They have slumped over 28 percent from the record high in September 2021.
Prices of small and medium-sized flats advanced by 0.35 percent in April month-on-month, while bigger flats grew at a faster pace at 0.42 percent in the month.
The rebound is expected to carry on in May as the one-month Hong Kong interbank offered rate, to which mortgage rate is linked, dropped from over 4 percent on average in April to below 1 percent in the second half of May. The decrease came after the Hong Kong Monetary Authority injected more than HK$100 billion into the market to defend local currency’s peg to the greenback earlier this month.
If sustained, it will likely attract buy-to-lease investors and end-users to enter the market as it may cost less to repay mortgage as compared to rent, according to property consultant CBRE.
But a significant rise in prices remained unlikely due to mounting inventories in unsold new flats, CBRE added.
Meanwhile, the rental index continued its rising trend in April, rising by 0.31 percent monthly. It was up for five months in a row. Rents increased by 3.64 percent in April from 12 months ago.
STAFF REPORTER
