18pc of top-end Hong Kong flats bought by mainlanders
Yvonne Liu 04 February 2010
Cashed-up mainlanders snapped up almost one in five luxury flats sold in Hong Kong last year, a sign of their growing economic might in the city.
Research by Centaline Property Agency shows mainlanders comprised made up 18.1 per cent of buyers of flats worth more than HK$12 million last year, compared with 11.2 per cent in 2008. In 2007, 9.2 per cent of buyers in the luxury residential market were mainlanders.
A luxury flat is usually defined as one worth more than HK$10 million.
It was the sharpest growth in mainland purchases in six years, said Wong Leung-shing, an associate director of research at Centaline.
He said the buyers had taken advantage of a sharp fall in prices.
“From 2004 to 2008, mainland buyers grew only one to two per cent a year, but the growth was steady,” Wong said. “The substantial increase in 2009 was due to the sharp fall in luxury property prices.”
Prices of luxury properties in Hong Kong plunged 40 to 50 per cent after the global financial crisis began in September 2008. “This attracted rich people from the mainland, as they caught the best time to buy. Prices of luxury properties have since surged 50 per cent to 70 per cent from the bottom and have generated attractive profit,” Wong said.
In the overall property market, including mass residential properties, only 5.6 per cent of the buyers came from the mainland last year, compared with 4.3 per cent in 2008.
Alva To Yu-hung, the head of consulting, North Asia, at DTZ, said the loose monetary policy on the mainland was another factor contributing to the influx of mainland buyers last year. However, he expects the number of mainland buyers to drop this year as the central government tightens its monetary policies.
The mainland appetite for luxury real estate in Hong Kong was evidenced by the sales at The Cullinan at Kowloon Station last year. The upmarket project attracted the highest proportion of mainland buyers among new projects in the city.
Property agents said about 10 per cent of buyers at the project held Chinese passports, while a further 20 per cent held Hong Kong identity cards with Putonghua phonetic transcriptions.
Henderson Land Development recently sponsored a mainland TV programme to promote its Beverly Hills luxury residential project in Tai Po, and Cheung Kong (Holdings) plans to promote Festival City, a new mass residential project in Tai Wai, on the mainland after the Lunar New Year.
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18pc of top-end Hong Kong flats bought by mainlanders
Yvonne Liu
04 February 2010
Cashed-up mainlanders snapped up almost one in five luxury flats sold in Hong Kong last year, a sign of their growing economic might in the city.
Research by Centaline Property Agency shows mainlanders comprised made up 18.1 per cent of buyers of flats worth more than HK$12 million last year, compared with 11.2 per cent in 2008. In 2007, 9.2 per cent of buyers in the luxury residential market were mainlanders.
A luxury flat is usually defined as one worth more than HK$10 million.
It was the sharpest growth in mainland purchases in six years, said Wong Leung-shing, an associate director of research at Centaline.
He said the buyers had taken advantage of a sharp fall in prices.
“From 2004 to 2008, mainland buyers grew only one to two per cent a year, but the growth was steady,” Wong said. “The substantial increase in 2009 was due to the sharp fall in luxury property prices.”
Prices of luxury properties in Hong Kong plunged 40 to 50 per cent after the global financial crisis began in September 2008. “This attracted rich people from the mainland, as they caught the best time to buy. Prices of luxury properties have since surged 50 per cent to 70 per cent from the bottom and have generated attractive profit,” Wong said.
In the overall property market, including mass residential properties, only 5.6 per cent of the buyers came from the mainland last year, compared with 4.3 per cent in 2008.
Alva To Yu-hung, the head of consulting, North Asia, at DTZ, said the loose monetary policy on the mainland was another factor contributing to the influx of mainland buyers last year. However, he expects the number of mainland buyers to drop this year as the central government tightens its monetary policies.
The mainland appetite for luxury real estate in Hong Kong was evidenced by the sales at The Cullinan at Kowloon Station last year. The upmarket project attracted the highest proportion of mainland buyers among new projects in the city.
Property agents said about 10 per cent of buyers at the project held Chinese passports, while a further 20 per cent held Hong Kong identity cards with Putonghua phonetic transcriptions.
Henderson Land Development recently sponsored a mainland TV programme to promote its Beverly Hills luxury residential project in Tai Po, and Cheung Kong (Holdings) plans to promote Festival City, a new mass residential project in Tai Wai, on the mainland after the Lunar New Year.
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