Mortgage numbers touch 10-year high

The number of mortgages for completed homes rose 25.3 percent last year to 44,931 and is expected to rise another 30 percent to 110,000 this year, which is a 10-year high, mReferral Mortgage Brokerage Services said.

The number of equitable mortgages dropped 21 percent from last year to 3,105. But the mortgage service provider predicted this year's figure would decrease as much as 10 percent to around 7,000.

It added that the one-month Hong Kong interbank offered rate is expected to maintain its current level, and actual mortgage rate was predicted to be around 1.5 percent in the coming two years.

Rent and capital values for mass and luxury residences will rise up to 5 percent in the next half-year, said Jones Lang LaSalle's latest mid-year market review and forecast.

JLL said the capital values for mass residential grew 3 percent in the first six months this year, while that of luxury residences also rose 3.9 percent.

It is expected that the prices of mass residences along the fully-opened Tuen Ma Line will hit new highs in the second half of this year.

Meanwhile, former Hong Kong Council of Social Service chief executive Christine Fang Meng-sang and her husband sold a 786-square-foot flat in Euston Court in Mid Levels for HK$17.38 million, or HK$22,212 per sq ft, in June.

The couple earned a capital gain of HK$6.78 million, a 64 percent increase from the previous valuation of HK$10.6 million in 2012.