Hong Kong luxury home market awaits return of affluent mainland Chinese buyers, as city’s talent scheme powers rentals
- The city recorded 42 luxury home sales in the three months to June, down 37.3 per cent quarter on quarter, as high borrowing costs put off investors
- The decline in Hong Kong luxury flat sales reflects the overall malaise in the city’s property market under the current high interest rate regime
“We’ve had many inquiries from mainland Chinese investors, but they are still taking a wait-and-see attitude during the second quarter,” said Lucia Leung, director of research and consultancy in Greater China at property consultancy Knight Frank. “Therefore, inquiry numbers were larger than transactions.”
The number of so-called super prime residential sales – covering transactions worth US$10 million and above – fell 17.6 per cent in the second quarter, down from their peak level in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to data from Knight Frank. Total consideration for these deals in the same period dropped 28.6 per cent from the high reached in 2021’s December quarter.
The city recorded 42 luxury flat sales in the three months to June, which amounted to a total of HK$6.54 billion (US$834 million). That reflected a 37.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter tumble in the number of deals and a 15.6 per cent decline in total consideration.
In the first half of the year, 1,318 luxury flats were sold, at an average price of more than HK$20 million, according to data from property consultancy Colliers. That number was down from the previous high of 1,717 such transactions during the same period in 2019.
