HK - Housing 04 (Apr 16 - Jun 24)

[winston]

Fifth straight monthly drop in home prices

Local home prices fell for the fifth consecutive month in February, the latest data from the Rating and Valuation Department showed yesterday as the Hong Kong Monetary Authority warned of a downward pressure on the residential market.

Flat prices slid 2.2 percent in February from January. They are down a total of 10.9 percent since October last year.

Rents fell as well, slipping 2.9 percent in February, down a total of 7.8 percent in the past five months.

Small and medium-sized units were down the most. Homes less than 1,075 square feet saw prices fall by an average 2.3 percent in February. They are down a total of 11 percent since last September.

Larger units above 1,075 sq ft saw prices fall 7.8 percent from last year's peak and slide 0.6 percent from January.

In its quarterly review, the monetary authority warned the local economic slowdown has weakened sentiment in the home market, which may lead to a downward trend in prices amid lower demand and higher supply.

The number of home mortgages is also at a record low, down 25 percent to 4,869 in February, it said.

Source: The Standard

[winston]

Signs that rate hikes will be only gradual

You may have heard that some banks can offer mortgages linked to different rates. You can choose to repay by linking with the prime rate usually prime minus 2 to 3 percent.

You can also choose to link your mortgage with HIBOR (Hong Kong interbank offered rate). The three- month HIBOR is 0.55 percent. If the bank charges HIBOR plus 2.4 percent, your mortgage rate will be 2.95 percent.

You can also go to the swap market to borrow at a fixed rate. For instance, you can swap three-month HIBOR into a fixed rate of 1.3 percent for three years.

In that case, you need to pay a fixed rate of 1.3 percent plus 2.4 percent bank charge or a total 3.7 percent every quarter for the next three years.

When you can swap three-month HIBOR now at 0.55 percent into a fixed rate of 1.3 percent for three years, there is just a 0.75 percent upside. This shows rate hikes in the United States and thus Hong Kong are likely to be more gradual than most people expect.

Source; Dr Check, The Standard

[winston]

Swire slashes new flat prices by a fifth in Hong Kong’s prime Mid-Levels area

Source: SCMP

http://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong- ... -prime-mid

[winston]

Hong Kong March home prices fall for 6th straight month amid rising supply

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/hongkong ... SL3N17W2T3

[winston]

Negative equity cases jump 14 times as Hong Kong property prices fall again in March

Number of private homes under construction hit record 13,300 units in first quarter

Source: SCMP


http://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong- ... g-property

[behappyalways]

Hong Kong Negative Equity Mortgages Jump 15 Times as Prices Drop
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... rices-drop

[winston]

Goldman Cuts Hong Kong Property Seeing 20% Drop in Home Prices

by Frederik Balfour

Real Estate Agencies As Hong Kong Home Sales Volume May Recover on Solid Pent-Up Demand

Hong Kong property prices have declined and sales tumbled to a 25-year low in February amid economic uncertainty.

Home prices forecast to drop 20 percent by 2018, volume low
Issues buy for Cheung Kong Property on recurring income base

Source: Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ome-prices

[winston]

Negative Equity Cases Soar in Hong Kong Amid Falling Prices

The city's Monetary Authority has revealed cases of 'negative equity' have increased 14-fold through the first three months of this year, with over 14-hundred additional home owners dealing with it.

"The current price is 13 percent lower from the peak, if the mortgage is over 90 percent, it is likely to be a negative equity."

if you want to buy a house you want to live-in yourself in Hong Kong which costs less than 7-million, you're going to have to put down at least 40-percent.

"Even though the number of negative equity cases has jumped from dozens to over a thousand, the numbers are still not very high. Most of the home-owners with negative equity have mortgages with over 90 percent left. But they are the homes of the borrowers themselves, and most of them still have the ability to repay their loans."

Source: CRIENGLISH.com

http://english.cri.cn/12394/2016/05/07/3621s926869.htm

[winston]

Bank tips 40pc home price dive

by Dominique Nguy

Deutsche Bank predicts local home prices will drop by 40 percent in the next three years, with half of that decline taking place this year.

It said in a report that the selling rate and the number of transactions in the local home market are significantly lower than the bank's estimates. Currently, the average selling rate of new mass-market flats is 40 percent within the first month of the project being launched. That for luxury apartments is 19 percent .

During bleak periods in the past 20 years, the average selling rate for new mass market flats stood between 41 and 67 percent, and that for new luxury flats between 30 and 74 percent .

Deutsche Bank said the recent performance of the home market was the worst for the past 20 years. Prices in the home market started to go down in September last year, and transactions have yet to recover so the bank believes it will take awhile for prices to reach the bottom.

Deutsche Bank said transactions have to increase by 2.93 times per month in order for the home market to digest that amount of new supplies coming in.

Also, prices will have to drop at a faster pace in order for the number of transactions to reach that level, the bank said.

The government predicts the potential private housing supply in the coming three to four years could reach a total of 92,000 flats, or 23,000 per year.

Meanwhile, more owners in the secondary market are slashing their prices.

A 935 saleable sq ft unit at the Bellagio in Sham Tseng sold for HK$8.99 million, or HK$9,624 price per ssf.

The selling price is HK$702,000 below the earlier asking price of HK$9.7 million and 3 percent below the market price.

In Sheung Shui, a 510 ssf unit of the Glorious Peak sold for HK$4.85 million, HK$650,000 below the asking price of HK$5.5 million.

Source: The Standard

[winston]

by behappyalways:-

Hong Kong Property Market in 'Free Fall': Hayman's Bass

Source: Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -free-fall