Hong Kong no longer in Hurun’s top 50 cities for fastest-growing home prices after social unrest kil
2020-02-28
South China Morning Post
Hong Kong no longer in Hurun’s top 50 cities for fastest-growing home prices after social unrest killed off demand
By Cheryl Arcibal
• The city, famous for its exorbitant property prices, has fallen off Hurun’s annual list of the top 50 cities ranked by house price increase
• Analysts reckon the downward trend will persist given the city is struggling to contain the deadly Covid-19 virus and has yet to fully shake off the civil unrest that began in June
Published: 4:00pm, 21 Feb, 2020
Hong Kong’s home prices suffered a double-whammy last year as the US-China trade war and the protest movement crippled the market. Photo: Roy Issa
Hong Kong’s home prices are no longer among the fastest growing on the planet, after months of volatile street protests destroyed demand, according to a new report by Shanghai-based Hurun.
The city, famous for its exorbitant property prices, has fallen off Hurun’s annual list of the top 50 cities ranked by the rate at which their house prices are increasing. In 2018, it was in sixth place after prices soared by 13.3 per cent, but it is nowhere to be seen on the Sweetome Hurun Global House Price Index 2019.
And analysts reckon the downward trend will persist given the city is struggling to contain the deadly Covid-19 virus and has yet to fully shake off the civil unrest that began in June.
“Hong Kong, San Jose, Las Vegas and Berlin, which ranked among the top 10 last year … fell out of the top 50 this year,” said the report. The Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, which topped the table in 2018, also fell out of the top 50 last year, even as its home prices achieved 4.8 per cent growth.
Now in its seventh edition, the index lists the 50 cities with the highest house price changes in the 12 months to December 31, 2019.
Hurun said Hong Kong’s home prices gained 4.7 per cent last year, having soared 13.3 per cent in 2018 and 13.1 per cent in 2017.
Estimates for Hong Kong’s home price growth last year vary considerably. According to Ricacorp Properties, the average price of a new flat plunged by 25 per cent. Centaline, meanwhile, said residential prices gained 4 per cent.
Used homes increased in value by 5.3 per cent, according to a Rating and Valuation Department index.
Hong Kong’s disappearance from the Hurun index will not even have reflected the impact of the outbreak of the coronavirus first detected in the mainland Chinese city of Wuhan. Hong Kong reported its first case of the deadly infection on January 22, and has since closed its borders with the mainland, and imposed a virtual lockdown with government and private sector employees working from home.
Hong Kong’s economy probably contracted by 1.9 per cent last year, according to the government, as the city reeled from the social unrest and the protracted US-China trade war.
“Definitely in recent weeks, we saw home prices soften a little bit in the secondary market, because I will say that the outbreak of the virus makes some of the owners pretty nervous and they were willing to lower prices,” said Buggle Lau Kai-fai, chief analyst at Midland Realty.
Given the rapid spread of the virus, the decline in home prices is likely to continue, according to CK Lau, managing director, valuation and advisory services, Asia, at Colliers International.
“There are signs that there are keen sellers who are prepared to offer deeper discounts than previous selling prices. The coronavirus outbreak has made the economic situation in Hong Kong much worse,” said Lau.
Home prices in the Hungarian capital of Budapest posted the biggest jump last year, rising by 21.8 per cent, moving it one spot higher from its previous ranking in the index.
Twenty-seven of the top 50 cities are in mainland China, with tourist hotspot Dali leading the charge with a 20.2 per cent rise in prices, and ranking second in the list. Over the past three years, Dali home prices have risen by more than a third.
The other mainland Chinese cities in the top five were Xi’an, Hohhot, and Guiyang. Wuhan, the epicentre of the Covid-19 infection, shared 13th place with another mainland city, Harbin, and the Greek capital, Athens.
By Cheryl Arcibal
• The city, famous for its exorbitant property prices, has fallen off Hurun’s annual list of the top 50 cities ranked by house price increase
• Analysts reckon the downward trend will persist given the city is struggling to contain the deadly Covid-19 virus and has yet to fully shake off the civil unrest that began in June
Published: 4:00pm, 21 Feb, 2020
Hong Kong’s home prices suffered a double-whammy last year as the US-China trade war and the protest movement crippled the market. Photo: Roy Issa
Hong Kong’s home prices are no longer among the fastest growing on the planet, after months of volatile street protests destroyed demand, according to a new report by Shanghai-based Hurun.
The city, famous for its exorbitant property prices, has fallen off Hurun’s annual list of the top 50 cities ranked by the rate at which their house prices are increasing. In 2018, it was in sixth place after prices soared by 13.3 per cent, but it is nowhere to be seen on the Sweetome Hurun Global House Price Index 2019.
And analysts reckon the downward trend will persist given the city is struggling to contain the deadly Covid-19 virus and has yet to fully shake off the civil unrest that began in June.
“Hong Kong, San Jose, Las Vegas and Berlin, which ranked among the top 10 last year … fell out of the top 50 this year,” said the report. The Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, which topped the table in 2018, also fell out of the top 50 last year, even as its home prices achieved 4.8 per cent growth.
Now in its seventh edition, the index lists the 50 cities with the highest house price changes in the 12 months to December 31, 2019.
Hurun said Hong Kong’s home prices gained 4.7 per cent last year, having soared 13.3 per cent in 2018 and 13.1 per cent in 2017.
Estimates for Hong Kong’s home price growth last year vary considerably. According to Ricacorp Properties, the average price of a new flat plunged by 25 per cent. Centaline, meanwhile, said residential prices gained 4 per cent.
Used homes increased in value by 5.3 per cent, according to a Rating and Valuation Department index.
Hong Kong’s disappearance from the Hurun index will not even have reflected the impact of the outbreak of the coronavirus first detected in the mainland Chinese city of Wuhan. Hong Kong reported its first case of the deadly infection on January 22, and has since closed its borders with the mainland, and imposed a virtual lockdown with government and private sector employees working from home.
Hong Kong’s economy probably contracted by 1.9 per cent last year, according to the government, as the city reeled from the social unrest and the protracted US-China trade war.
“Definitely in recent weeks, we saw home prices soften a little bit in the secondary market, because I will say that the outbreak of the virus makes some of the owners pretty nervous and they were willing to lower prices,” said Buggle Lau Kai-fai, chief analyst at Midland Realty.
Given the rapid spread of the virus, the decline in home prices is likely to continue, according to CK Lau, managing director, valuation and advisory services, Asia, at Colliers International.
“There are signs that there are keen sellers who are prepared to offer deeper discounts than previous selling prices. The coronavirus outbreak has made the economic situation in Hong Kong much worse,” said Lau.
Home prices in the Hungarian capital of Budapest posted the biggest jump last year, rising by 21.8 per cent, moving it one spot higher from its previous ranking in the index.
Twenty-seven of the top 50 cities are in mainland China, with tourist hotspot Dali leading the charge with a 20.2 per cent rise in prices, and ranking second in the list. Over the past three years, Dali home prices have risen by more than a third.
The other mainland Chinese cities in the top five were Xi’an, Hohhot, and Guiyang. Wuhan, the epicentre of the Covid-19 infection, shared 13th place with another mainland city, Harbin, and the Greek capital, Athens.
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