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Exclusive | Hong Kong developer Wharf calls for ‘comprehensive review’ of property market curbs to stop the rot in home sales, prices
- Stephen Ng, chairman of the Wharf group, says a ‘comprehensive review’ is needed to remove market curbs as economic conditions have changed since 2009
- Recent easing measures are inadequate and not enough to overturn the current price slide and dire sentiment
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The Wharf group, one of Hong Kong’s biggest developers, has called for a complete review of the city’s decade-old property market curbs to help arrest a slide in home sales and prices, saying recent steps are “far from enough” to rejuvenate the economy.
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After more than 10 years, “it is time to do a comprehensive review and [that should] involve different sectors of the community to come in with different views”, Stephen Ng Tin-hoi, chairman of the property group, said in an exclusive interview. “Then we can make an informed decision about which way to go.”
Home prices have declined 15 per cent from a peak in September 2021 while transaction volume is approaching a five-year low, according to official data and industry forecasts, as higher interest rates undermined the city’s post-pandemic recovery. As external trade slumped through August and US interest-rate policy tightened, domestic property policies remain a variable or lever within the government’s control, Ng added.
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Hong Kong developer Wharf calls for ‘comprehensive review’ of property market curbs
Hong Kong developer Wharf calls for ‘comprehensive review’ of property market curbs
The size of Hong Kong’s property market is about HK$6.4 trillion (US$824 billion), based on the outstanding loans for property development, investment and lendng, as well as home purchases at the end of June, according to data published by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).
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