According to the latest news from Hong Kong’s largest developer, Sun Hung Kai Properties, 88% of their 455 flats sold out in one of the biggest sales weekends of the year.
This surge in sales follows three bumper weekends of transactions throughout September, putting Hong Kong on track to achieving a record-breaking month. The impressive performance of the market can be attributed to the exponential demand for apartments, which saw 4,062 bidders competing for every available unit Sun Hung Kai had to offer.
The growing optimism throughout the market, as well as this positive buyer sentiment, has been increasing in recent months. August 2021 saw house prices surpass record-breaking highs, putting Hong Kong amongst many leading real estate markets.
Similar to many other countries across the globe, the Hong Kong property market has been reaping the rewards of a favourable buying market. With interest rates being at an all-time low, more buyers are now inclined to take advantage of the accessible market, which has catalysed an 8.6% increase in property prices since the start of 2021.
While the growth in the property market is coinciding with Hong Kong’s economic recovery, it is somewhat surprising with the city’s ongoing exodus. Since January 2021, almost 5.4 million Hongkongers have had the opportunity to apply for a BNO Visa, which offers residents and their dependents UK citizenship for at least five years.
The BNO Visa was announced in July 2020, after China passed a new security law earlier in the year. With initial forecasts anticipating over 1,000,000 applications to be made overall, the impacts this would have on the city’s property market were a significant concern.
Around 65,000 applications have been made for the visa so far, almost 40,000 of which have already been approved. While this is causing an exodus across Hong Kong, the strength of the city’s economic rebound is seemingly offsetting the potential repercussions of this.
After the turbulence the economy endured throughout 2020, the city is now making up for Covid-19 related losses. For the first half of 2021, the economy embarked on its road to recovery, with year-on-year GDP growth of 7.8% in these first six months.
This momentum has only continued, and has caused a 29% rise in residential transactions in Q2 2021, bringing the total to 22,000 and making it the highest performing second quarter since 2012. As a result, this growing positivity throughout both the economy and property market is not only encouraging a greater level of optimism for the remainder of 2021, but for 2022 and beyond.
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