Local home prices log second monthly rise in April
Hong Kong’s lived-in home prices rose for the second straight month in April, increasing by 0.3 percent from March, with all home sizes seeing gains. Data released by the Rating and Valuation Department on Wednesday showed that the latest official price index of second-hand units stood at 308.7 last month, compared with 305.7 in March. The increase was broad-based, as all small, medium, and large sized units saw gains of about 0.3 percent on a monthly basis. It also came after the index logged its first increase in 11 months in March, as buyers returned to the market after Financial Secretary Paul Chan scrapped all property cooling measures in his Budget on February 28. However, taking the first four months in total, home prices still fell 0.84 percent, and the latest index level was still about 13 percent lower compared with the same period last year.  Rental prices, meanwhile, rose 0.9 percent on a monthly basis, also a second straight increase, but still 4.6 percent lower from the same period last year. The city’s rents rose 0.5 percent in the first four months of the year.