HK home prices suffer biggest drop since 1998
Government data shows Hong Kong home prices fell by 15.6 percent in the past year, the steepest decline since 1998 when prices plunged by almost a third.  Figures from the Rating and Valuation Department reveal the first annual drop since the global financial crisis in 2008.  Prices of smaller private homes fell by 16 percent, and larger properties by 6.8 percent. December home prices dropped two percent from the previous month, falling for the seventh month in a row. An index for rents fell 3.7 percent over the year, but edged up in December from the month before. Peter Churchouse from Portwood Capital said he expects transaction volumes to rebound thanks to the reopening of the border. "We may see in the first half of this year a little more downside on pricing, but my expectation is that the pricing will probably bottom by the end of the first half," he told RTHK. "And we may see a bit of a U-shaped recovery starting from the middle of this year, [although] I don't expect there to be a dramatic pick-up for prices in the second half." Churchouse said it's high time the government withdraws the double stamp duty for non-local and corporate buyers, saying the reasons for introducing these "spicy measures" to suppress speculation are no longer applicable.