Hong Kong’s lived-in home prices posted a small gain for the second straight month in May, according to official data, fortifying hopes of a sustained recovery in the city’s property market.

An official index measuring secondary home prices inched up by 0.03 per cent in May from a month earlier, the Rating and Valuation Department said on Thursday. In April, the gauge rose 0.35 per cent from March.

In the first five months of the year, second-hand home prices declined by 0.9 per cent. They are down 28 per cent from a peak in September 2021.

“While residential prices are bottoming out, significant rises are not expected in 2025,” said Eddie Kwok, executive director for valuation and advisory services at CBRE Hong Kong.

“Given the improvement in market sentiment coupled with low financing costs, we maintain our forecast of 0 per cent to 5 per cent growth in residential prices for 2025. This may also call an end to the residential market correction since 2021.”

Prices retreated slightly in Class E segment – homes with saleable area of at least 160 square metres (1,722 sq ft) – while four other housing categories were either unchanged or posted small gains, the data showed.