CBRE: Market expects Hong Kong government to relax or withdraw cooling measures, providing some short-term support for property prices.

On February 27th, according to data from the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department, residential prices in January fell by 1.6% month-on-month, marking the ninth consecutive month of decline to a seven-year low. Residential prices have dropped by a cumulative 23% compared to the historical peak in September 2021. Senior Director of Valuation and Advisory Services at CBRE Hong Kong, Vincent Cheung, said that the market expects the Hong Kong SAR government to further relax cooling measures or even withdraw them, which may provide some short-term support for property prices. However, future trends will depend on interest rate movements and the pricing of new developments by developers. He stated that, given the current market conditions, second-hand property units have already fallen to relatively attractive prices, providing opportunities for long-term investors or end-users to enter the market. Cheung pointed out that the rate of decline in the past two months has slowed compared to previous months, with significant declines seen in second-hand units, particularly those near newly developed properties. Two main factors contributing to this are developers pricing their projects attractively and second-hand property owners needing to lower prices further to sell their units.