Hong Kong Property Market: Raised this year's forecast for Hong Kong's first-hand residential transaction volume to 19,000 units.

The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates again, and major banks in Hong Kong have announced a 0.125% interest rate cut following suit, with the Hong Kong dollar prime rate (P) dropping to 5%-5.25%. Hong Kong property developers have raised their forecast for the number of first-hand residential transactions to 19,000 this year, reaching a new high since the implementation of the Residential Properties (First-hand Sales) Ordinance in 2013. The forecast for second-hand residential transactions has also been revised up to 45,000, marking a 4-year high. It is expected that property prices in Hong Kong will see single-digit growth, reversing the trend of continuous decline over the past 3 years. This month, Hong Zhi conducted a customer property intention survey through questionnaires and successfully collected 327 valid responses. The survey results show that, benefiting from the interest rate cuts in the United States and the reduction in the Hong Kong prime rate (P) by banks, the willingness of citizens to enter the market is increasing. Approximately 56% of respondents said they are considering entering the market in the next 12 months, reaching a new high for 3 quarters and the 4th highest since the second quarter of 2016. The remaining about 44% of respondents said they are not considering entering the market for now.