HONG KONG: Property sales in Hong Kong rose 57.2 per cent in March from the previous month, a clear sign that the market was largely buoyed by the government’s lifting of all property cooling measures in its 2024-2025 Budget.
According to a report by China Daily, in March, the city’s Land Registry recorded 5,013 sale and purchase agreements for all building units submitted for registration. This marked a decrease of 57.2 per cent compared to February and a 41.7 per cent decrease from the previous year.
The total consideration for such agreements in March rose 65.5 per cent from February to HK$37.4 billion, while a 45.7 per cent year-on-year decrease was recorded.
Of the agreements, 3,971 were for residential units, representing a 67.2 per cent increase from February and a 40.6 per cent fall from a year ago, the data showed.
The total consideration for residential units was HK$30.1 billion, up 57.4 per cent compared with February and down 48.1 per cent year-on-year.
There were 367,409 land register searches last month, the Land Registry added.
New and secondhand home sales in the city soared shortly after the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government announced on 28 February that no special stamp duty, buyer stamp duty or new residential stamp duty is payable for residential property transactions, with immediate effect. Sellers and buyers of residential properties however are still required to pay ad valorem stamp duties at Scale 2 rates, from HK USD 100 (USD 12.8) up to 4.25 per cent of the consideration.
Since 2010, the HKSAR has introduced a raft of property market tightening measures to cool down the sizzling housing market, with notable moves in November 2010, October 2012, February 2013 and November 2016.
