Property prices in Hong Kong, the world’s most expensive real-estate market, yesterday reached an all-time high after relentless gains over the past three months.
Home values in the territory broke their previous record set in August last year, making a correction from the middle of last year through January look like a temporary blip, Centaline data show.
The Centa-City Leading Index, which measures values of used homes, stood at 189.42 for the week ended May 26, the highest ever. Prices have risen by 8.6 percent since the beginning of the year.
Home prices have rebounded on revived sentiment around low interest rates and limited supply.
UBS Group AG said last month that the property market in Hong Kong would remain bullish for another decade, thanks in part to the population influx from mainland China.
In some quarters, the demand has never let up.
At Wheelock Properties Ltd’s Montara project in the Tseung Kwan O area, 103 potential buyers have been vying for each unit, making it the most competitive project since 2013, the Hong Kong Economic Times reported on May 10.
It is grim news for those trying to get on the property ladder. Hong Kong already holds the mantle of the world’s least-affordable property market and this will make even basic apartments the preserve of rich people.
A CBRE Group Inc report in April found that the territory has the highest average home price at US$1.2 million, as well as the highest average prime property price at US$6.9 million.
Still, others have more bearish predictions.
Knight Frank this week said that home prices might dip 5 percent in the second half due to the uncertainties from a US-China trade dispute and stock market volatility.
Economist and Harvard professor Carmen Reinhart told a conference in Singapore that the Hong Kong property market is showing signs of a bubble.
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