Hong Kong home price growth slowed down sharply in April as rising interest rates sapped confidence
- Prices of lived-in homes in Hong Kong grew by 0.5 per cent in April, the least so far this year, as homebuyers weighed higher interest rates
- Residential transactions declined 31.5 per cent month on month in April to 4,583, according to Land Registry
The overall home price index rose 0.5 per cent month on month to 354.2 in April, the least since prices bottomed out in December, according to data from the Rating and Valuation Department. While property prices have risen 5.8 per cent so far this year, on an annual basis they were still down 8 per cent.
Prices of small flats rose 0.5 per cent, while those of large flats measuring 100 square metres or more gained 1.3 per cent.
“Our forecast for home price growth this year is between 2 and 6 per cent, so this means that the upper band of the range has been met,” said Kathy Lee, the head of research at Colliers Hong Kong, adding that prices for the rest of the year were likely to remain flat or see a marginal reduction.
The slowdown in the secondary property market was mainly due to three reasons – aggressive pricing schemes of developers who are looking to move rising inventories, higher interest rates and the sluggish performance of the Hong Kong stock market, analysts said.
