HK - Housing 04 (Apr 16 - Jun 24)

[winston]

HK Foreclosures Keep Rising

Regarding the increasing number of foreclosures in Hong Kong, Cindy Huang, Director of Corporate Ratings at Standard and Poor's Rating, said the trend of having more foreclosures is more and more obvious, but she believed that the proportion is still limited, and she expected the number to grow and drag the property prices in Hong Kong to fall.

She said the property prices of Hong Kong have stabilized recently, and expected the property prices to fall 10-15% for the whole year.

With sustained increases in housing supply in future and uncertain economic outlook of Hong Kong, she believed the property prices will keep on falling in the second half of 2016 and the entire 2017.

Source: AAStocks Financial News

[winston]

HKMA bashes leverage loans

by Dominique Nguy

On Tuesday, Cheung Kong Property (1113) launched a 123 percent mortgage financing plan for buyers of flats at its Yuccie Square project.

Its move follows last week's offer by Sun Hung Kai Properties (0016) of a 120 percent mortgage plan to buyers of units at its Park Yoho Venezia project in Yuen Long. Buyers who take up its offer have to mortgage their existing flat to SHKP's financing subsidiary, but they need not go through an income test. Its mortgage offer is only for three years.

If buyers are unable to repay their mortgages in full during the three-year period, they can apply to extend the mortgage period up to 25 years at higher interest rates. Alternatively, they can apply for mortgages from banks.

Source: The Standard

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-n ... ?id=170872

[winston]

Hong Kong House Prices Slow Down

By Jim Atkins

Although sales were up 2% between April and May, the year on year trend shows a steep 11% decline, statistics from the Land Registry reveal.

Real estate consultants Knight Frank say the luxury market has performed slightly better, seeing only an 8% drop in prices.

Source: iexpats.com

http://www.iexpats.com/hong-kong-house-prices-slow/

[winston]

Hong Kong residential land prices fall up to 20pc in first half, says JLL

Local developers sat on their hands, while bidding interest from mainland also started to cool

Source: SCMP

http://www.scmp.com/business/article/19 ... f-says-jll

[winston]

Hong Kong property sales fall 40% in the first half of 2016

Hong Kong experience the worst decline in volume of property sales for over a decade, following the first economy contraction in two years.

Summary:

Hong Kong experienced the worst decline in volume for at least 11 years, with property sales falling by 40%

By the end of March, there were 1,432 houses on the market that were worth less than the amount paid for them, up from 95 in December

The general economy has also suffered, experiencing a contraction for the first time in two years

Source: Select Property

http://www.selectproperty.com/2016/07/h ... f-of-2016/

[behappyalways]

地產代理爭客　馬路打大交
http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/ ... 1467590855

[winston]

Chinese developers reduce Hong Kong land purchases

12% falls in property prices since September has prompted developers from mainland China to pull back from striking deals in Hong Kong.

Summary:

Hong Kong land purchases by Chinese developers have slowed dramatically in the first half of 2016

Developers from the mainland have bid in just two of the eight residential land tenders so far this year

12% price falls over the last 10 months have dampened buyer demand in the city, with further pressure on values likely in the coming months

Source: Select Property

http://www.selectproperty.com/2016/07/c ... purchases/

[behappyalways]

代理爭客打架　地監局報警
http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/financees ... 1468662600

[winston]

Coverage of Real Estate news in the newspapers

A popular newspaper likes to take a negative approach in covering Hong Kong's property market, as it probably thinks readers like to read "bad" news.

But at Sing Tao Daily, you'll see more neutral news and the facts.

We will say price negotiations in the secondary market have narrowed, end- users are eager to buy, and small to medium sized flats are the investors'choice.

Source: Dr Check, The Standard

[winston]

Hong Kong’s Property Market Already Bottomed?

By Shuli Ren

Hong Kong property stocks have gone up around 10% this year, outperforming the Hang Seng Index, which has been flat. This is because investors think Hong Kong’s property down market may have already bottomed in March.

Secondary transaction volume tends to be a leading indicator of residential properties.

For the past 20 weeks, real estate agent Midland 35-estate’s weekly volume stood at an average level of around 70 deals per week, a significant improvement from an average of only 34 deals between last August to February. Now the transaction volume is back to the average level seen in early 2013.

“We believe the major reason for a continuous volume and price recovery is a huge pent-up demand, which accumulated during the correction period from Aug 2015 to March 2016,” noted Citi Research‘s Ken Yeung, who believe Hong Kong’s property market already hit the bottom in March.

Yeung thinks Hong Kong’s home prices can rise 8% in the second-half this year. In the second-quarter, home prices already rose by around 2%.

Talking about lower yields for longer. Hong Kong’s housing has become a lot more affordable as mortgage rates are held low. The bank’s affordability index has fallen to 38% in the last year, along with the 12% drop in home prices. A year ago, this index stood at 43.7%.

So which developers should we buy? Morgan Stanley likes Sun Hung Kai Properties (16.Hong Kong), because it has 30% market share, its rental growth is higher than others and it is growing its dividends nicely.

The bank also likes Sino Land (83.Hong Kong), because it is cheap, trading at only 0.5 times book.

Developers propelled the Hang Seng Index 0.8% higher today.

Source: Barron's Asia