Pro-business parties urge Finance Chief to scrap HK property cooling measures | HK Weekend Property Market Recap

This week, Hong Kong stocks sank further, with the Hang Seng Index sliding below 15,000 points, the lowest it’s been since October 2022. This downturn followed recent turmoil over the potential introduction of a capital gains tax in the city.

Less than a week ago, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po made it clear that Hong Kong was not in a position to implement a capital gains tax at the moment. Despite this clarification, market sentiment remained weak.

Gearing up for next month’s Financial Budget announcement, the market is holding its breath in anticipation of new measures that might introduced to boost the economy. Faced with continuous market downturn, pro-business parties have urged the government to scrap all “spicy” property cooling measures.

Amid an uncertain market outlook, the prevailing wait-and-see attitude further intensified, leading to a drop in second-hand market transactions.

Over the weekend, Hong Kong’s four biggest real estate agencies recorded four to seven deals for the city’s top ten blue-chip housing estates, a six-week low. Trading may improve before the Chinese New Year, or the announcement of the Financial Budget.

Buyers remained cautious when entering the market, and homes with significant price reductions continued to be the most attractive. In fact, some homeowners were willing to lower their prices, even if it meant exiting the market at a loss. We then explore three cases where this happened.

Amid a market downturn, property developers are also selling new projects at low prices. For example, last week, the developer Country Garden slashed prices by 30 per cent for the Allegro project in Kowloon City, to attract more buyers.

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