The year 2023 is a charm for Hong Kong’s economy as experts stated. This year market-related recovery will be quick and will overcome the disastrous act of the occurrence of the coronavirus pandemic over the last two years. Home prices are also impacted due to the Asian Financial crisis, since then things are tough to manage, but this year the condition will be better.
According to data released by the Rating and Valuation Department on Friday, live-in home prices sank 15.6% in 2022 from a year earlier. It was the steepest dip since the 32.5% plunge in 1998. That showcases a seven-month decline in December, the longest losing streak since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003.
The index has slumped 16.5 percent since, hitting a record high in September 2021. Flats measuring 431 sq ft to 752 sq ft fell the most last year at 16.1 percent, including a 2.2 percent drop in December.
The economy was hampered due to the recession, with an annual rate of 3.3% in the first nine months last year. The lack of demand for properties and prices got high, impacting the lifestyle of consumers as well as the economy negatively. According to Lee Shu-Kam the market is revamping stock prices boosting equity wealth and China’s zero covid pivot spiked investors’ confidence.
“This month, [prices] will stabilise or even edge up as the stock market has improved,” said Lee, who predicts home prices will climb 2 per cent this year. “Coupled with the border reopening, homeowners may get tougher with their [higher] asking prices.”
The Hang Seng Index has risen 14.7 per cent this year, the highest in 11 months, the best start to a year since it surged 26 per cent in January 1984, according to Bloomberg data.
The city’s stock market has regained US$487 billion of capitalisation in the rally. Mainland Chinese investors have bought US$1.7 billion of Hong Kong-listed stocks in the first three weeks of this year.
Surprisingly, from this year the condition of Hong Kong in the property sector will become positive as a result the supply of new flats is forecasted to reach 105,000 units in the next three to four years. The report was released by the Housing Bureau on Friday.
The number comprises 16,500 unsold units in completed projects, 75,000 units under construction, and 23,000 units from granted sites where construction may start anytime, less than 9,000 units under construction that have been sold through presales.
Jason Leung Yeuk-ho, a researcher at Our Hong Kong Foundation, said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the supply of new flats in the next few years, partly due to higher construction activity in 2023 helped by the further relaxation of Covid-19 measures. In 2022, some 21,200 units were completed, up 47 percent from 2021, he noted. Although this is less than the government’s previous projection of 22,300 units, it was in line with the foundation’s forecast of 21,000 units. Also easing the future supply lift is the accumulation of unsold units due to slower project launches and weak sales in the second half of 2022, he added.
- Published By Team Hongkong Journalist
