Property buyers look to HK budget for hopeful signs

Over 40 percent of respondents expect to enter the property market at a faster pace if more supportive measures are to be introduced in the upcoming budget this month, a survey by Midland shows.

The latest figure was 13.3 percentage points higher than a similar survey conducted last October, Midland said.

About 75 percent of respondents support the proposal to ease or fully remove property cooling measures in the budget.

The company's chief analyst, Buggle Lau, pointed out that since the reduction of cooling measures in last year's policy address, both first-hand and second-hand residential property transactions have slightly improved, but still below the level of the first 10 months last year.

The drop in property prices is even bigger following the easing of cooling measures, and the latest property prices have dropped by about 12.8 percent compared to last year's highs.

There will be plenty of favorable factors for the property market, such as the possible US interest rate cut in 2024, and if the administration responds to public opinion by reducing and withdrawing the cooling measures, it will help to stabilize the property market, according to Sammy Po Siu-ming, chief executive of the residential division for Hong Kong and Macau.

He estimated primary transactions are expected to increase by about 43 percent to 15,000 cases this year, while secondary transactions will rise by nearly 40 percent to 50,000 cases, with property prices and rents up 5 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Po also predicts that with the pent-up demand, coupled with developers' low-priced sales strategy, a slight peak in the number of transactions is expected to appear around the Chinese New Year.

Uptown East, a redevelopment project in Kowloon Bay by Wong Sun Hing, is expected to release the first price list in March at the earliest.

It will upload sales brochures after the Lunar New Year, which will mainly entail two-bedroom units.

The project was formerly known as Kai Tak Mansion, and Connie Wong Wai-ching, the group's Managing Director, revealed that there are three floors of commercial space at the base for leasing.

It is scheduled to be built around the concept of education, and Harrow International School Hong Kong has already leased about half of the area of the commercial space.

nancy.fei@singtaonewscorp.com