Tuesday, January 6, 2009

HK says 2008 property deals fell over 20%

Source : Business Times - 6 Jan 2009

Hong Kong’s property market contracted sharply in 2008, with the value and number of sales for all types of building units falling by more than a fifth, government data showed on Tuesday.

The Land Registry said it recorded 113,298 agreements last year compared with 145,691 in 2007. The total value of the deals amounted to HK$413.11 billion (US$53 billion), down 21.4 per cent from HK$525.63 billion in 2007.

The Land Registry had said on Monday that the total number of sale and purchase agreements for residential units rose 44.2 per cent to 4,706 in December from November, but the December number was down 65 per cent from the year-ago period.

The residential agreements in December were valued at HK$17.7 billion, up 96.1 per cent from November but down 66 per cent from a year ago.

The improved month-on-month home sales data helped spur buying in Hong Kong property stocks on Tuesday, with the blue-chip property sub-index gaining 2.5 per cent, bucking a 0.35 per cent fall in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

Analysts generally expect to see a stable property market in the city in the second half of 2009.

Shares of Sun Hung Kai Properties, the territory’s biggest developer, surged 4.2 per cent while Henderson Land climbed 4.4 per cent.


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