Source: e Company Author: Chen Ying.
After Hong Kong announced the complete cancellation of the hot measures in the real estate market, the volume of real estate transactions has continued to rise. Among them, how many mainland buyers are there?
According to the latest data from China Real Estate, in the first half of this year, the proportion of mainland buyers in Hong Kong's private residential market rose to over 20%, involving an amount of HKD 70.5 billion, both of which set a new record.
Among them, emerging areas such as Qianhai and Huangzhukeng Station have overtaken previous hotspots for mainland property buyers, such as Kowloon Station.
Since the implementation of a series of talent grabbing measures at the end of 2022, Hong Kong has received more than 0.32 million applications for various talent immigration plans, and has approved nearly 0.2 million of them, among which more than 0.13 million talents have arrived in Hong Kong.
The market is concerned about the influx of mainland funds into Hong Kong properties after the cancellation of the hot measures, with a large number of various talents coming to buy or rent.
According to data from Centaline Property and the Land Registry, before the cancellation of the hot measures, 2046 transactions were registered in the Hong Kong first-hand and second-hand market in February this year, and only 388 were known to be mainland buyers.
However, after the cancellation of the hot measures, the number of registered mainland buyers increased to 907 in March, and exceeded 1,000 in the following two months. In April, it reached 2280 transactions, nearly 5 times higher than before the cancellation of the hot measures, creating a monthly record high. However, this data fell to 758 transactions in June.
Driven by mainland buyers' active entry into the market, a total of 6,117 transactions of mainland buyers buying and selling were recorded in the first six months of this year, nearly 70% higher than the same period last year, involving a total amount of HKD70.54 billion. Both transaction volume and value have reached record highs since 1995.
At present, the proportion of mainland buyers in Hong Kong's property market has risen to a historical high of 25%, and the total amount of market entry exceeds 30.9%. Checking the records, in the peak period of the 1997 property market, the proportion of mainland buyers was only about 2%.
Regarding the statement that the Hong Kong first-hand market has been mainly supported by mainland buyers over the years, the data also shows that the funds flowing into the first-hand market in the first half of this year reached HKD109.7 billion, of which nearly 40% or HKD43.4 billion came from mainland personnel, the highest proportion ever.
In the first half of this year, a total of 8,974 newly launched properties were registered in Hong Kong, of which 3,027 were bought by mainland buyers, 84% of which appeared after the cancellation of the hot measures.
From the perspective of market entry prices, the mainland buyers mainly purchased small and medium-sized units. In the first half of this year, among the first-hand and second-hand units purchased by mainland buyers, 3,970 belonged to units priced below HKD10 million, accounting for 65%; there were 106 units priced above HKD50 million.
Centaline Property stated that there are many reasons why mainland buyers choose to purchase property in Hong Kong, including immigration and settlement, investment opportunities, and educational resources. In addition, Hong Kong announced the complete cancellation of the hot measures at the end of February this year, which means that non-local buyers, including mainland buyers, no longer need to pay up to 30% of the tax, greatly reducing the cost of property purchase.
At the same time, Hong Kong's property prices have fallen more than 25% from their peak, attracting non-local customers to buy low. Especially after the cancellation of the hot measures, "new Hong Kong residents" and mainland buyers who have obtained Hong Kong permanent residency certificates have come to Hong Kong to buy property, so mainland buyers are frequently emerging.
Regarding the future market, Centaline Property believes that in recent years, Hong Kong's residential rents and rental returns have risen, and it is expected to attract more mainland funds to Hong Kong.
Editor/Lambor