Sales of resale apartments in Hong Kong rose over the weekend, as the index monitoring home prices had its biggest weekly decline in over six months, according to Centaline Property Agency Ltd.
The number of transactions in projects like Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Tai Koo Shing rose 25 percent to 66 from the previous week, said Centaline. However, Midland Holdings Ltd, HK’s biggest realtor by market value, said in a press release that the number of transactions fell to 45 from 50.
Last month, the city-state continued its year-long battle to curb increasing home prices with the implementation of additional policies and taxes. A 15 percent stamp duty has been implemented to homes sold within six months of acquisition and a 50 percent down payment will be collected for homes costing at least HK$12 million (S$2 million), up from the current 40 percent.
“Some end-users are taking advantage of the recent correction in prices to buy, while long-term investors also prefer these big blue-chip projects for their stable returns,” said Louis Chan, managing director for residential sales at Centaline.
The Centa-City Leading Index, which monitors home prices in HK, dropped 1.28 percent to 88.27 in the week ended December 12, the biggest since May 30.
Midland said earlier that HK’s residential deals may likely drop by as much as 35 percent next year, after the government’s implementation of the cooling measures.