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Hong Kong property
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Hong Kong home prices fall for ninth straight month, intensifying calls for lifting property curbs

  • An index tracking second-hand unit prices declined in January to the lowest since October 2016
  • Secondary-market prices of Hong Kong homes have retreated 23 per cent from their peak in September 2021

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View of residential buildings at the Mid-Levels. Photo: May Tse
Cheryl Arcibal

Hong Kong’s lived-in home prices fell for the ninth straight month in January, dropping 1.57 per cent and dragging the city’s official home price index down to a level last seen more than seven years ago, the latest government data showed.

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The sustained decline strengthen the case for the withdrawal of property cooling measures, on the eve of the government’s budget announcement, developers and industry players said. The government and the monetary authority have introduced a variety of duties and rules to cool the city’s hot property market since 2010.
The official price index of second-hand units declined to 306.4 in January from 311.3 in December, hitting the lowest level since a 304.3 reading in October 2016, according to the Rating and Valuation Department.

Secondary-market prices of Hong Kong homes have retreated 23 per cent from their peak in September 2021, according to government statistics. The nine-month losing streak, the longest since the outbreak of Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003, led to an aggregate fall of 13.5 per cent in Hong Kong home prices from April 2023.

“If the property curbs can be significantly reduced or even completely withdrawn as expected by the market, it will promote a significant increase in transaction volumes and drive up property prices,” said Derek Chan, research head at property agency Ricacorp Properties.

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