Number of deals involving non-local homebuyers in Hong Kong more than triples
Non-locals took part in 2,997 residential property deals in 2024-25, compared with 700 deals in 2023-24, official data shows
The number of deals involving non-local homebuyers in Hong Kong has more than tripled over the past two years, official data shows, a jump that experts have attributed in part to the government’s scrapping of property market cooling measures.
But the number of transactions by local buyers increased by only 14 per cent between 2023-24 and 2024-25, with the latest level down by 34 per cent over the figure for 2020-21, when the Covid-19 pandemic started to hit the city.
The shifting make-up of homebuyers was spelled out in figures the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau provided to the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee on Thursday.
Non-locals took part in 2,997 residential property deals in 2024-25, involving HK$31.3 billion (US$4.02 billion) in total. They took part in 700 deals in 2023-24, with HK$6.78 billion in property changing hands. In 2020-21, buyers from outside the city were involved in just 110 residential property deals.
The bureau defines non-local buyers as those without any form of Hong Kong identity card and 2024-25 runs up until February 28.
The treasury’s figures also showed that the number of deals by Hongkongers in the past financial year rose to 48,458 from 42,475 in 2023-24, which was still far behind the 72,909 transactions recorded in 2020-21.