Hong Kong’s property sector rebounds with $60 billion worth of transactions

Deals on homes, commercial and industrial properties, and car parking spaces reached the highest volume since the first half of 1997 

Hong Kong’s real estate market is bringing the heat, with total transactions in the property sector jumping to a 24-year high in the first half, reported South China Morning Post.  

According to data gathered by Midland Realty, the real estate deals, which include homes, commercial and industrial properties, and car parking spaces, increased to HKD468.71 billion (USD60.4 billion) in the first six months. This is the highest volume since the first half of 1997 at HKD483.6 billion.  

Secondary housing topped the list, accounting for HKD280.06 billion or nearly 60 percent of the turnover. 

Buggle Lau Kai-fai, chief analyst at Midland Realty, said, “Even under the haze of the pandemic, the property market has rebounded, with the number and value of transactions rising, of which the second-hand housing market has become the main driving force.”  

The office sector saw the fastest growth in transactions, with one the biggest deals being the HKD10.5 billion Kowloon Bay International Trade and Exhibition Centre sale in June, showed data from Centaline Commercial.  

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Stanley Poon Chi-ming, managing director at Centaline Commercial, said the office market signals positive recovery and will rally once the border is reopened as investments from mainland China will come back.  

The commercial and industrial property segment saw first-half deals rise 136 percent, the highest since the second half of 2018 before investors retracted due to the social unrest and coronavirus pandemic. Transactions in the second half are expected to increase by another 25 percent from the first half, estimated Centaline.  

“The bottom in the industrial and commercial property market has ended, and the market is slowly entering an upward trend,” Poon said.