Property sector welcomes removal of 'spicy measures'
The property sector welcomed the relaxation of all cooling measures as announced by Financial Secretary Paul Chan in his Budget speech on Wednesday.  Real estate and construction sector lawmaker Louis Loong said the time was right to remove what he considered to be outdated policies. "The demand is not as high as before because of the weakening of the confidence while supply has gone up over the years. We are talking about a complete reversal of all the factors. The complete removal of all these out-of-date measures is welcomed," he added. DAB lawmaker Rock Chen reassured homebuyers that the elimination of the property cooling measures would not lead to a sudden spike in home prices.  "The property market is being affected by many different other factors. In addition to those cooling measures, for example, supply, demand, the local economy and also interest rate levels, etc. So I think the government has done the right thing by removing all the remaining management measures, so that the property market, especially the residential market, will return to free market mechanisms," he explained.  Chairman of the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong, Stewart Leung, said the move would enhance market confidence, and predicted that home prices could increase by 3 to 4 percent towards the end of the year.  Bloomberg's senior analyst for real estate in the Asia-Pacific region, Patrick Wong, said the government's decision could see an increase in the transaction volume of first-hand properties, potentially reaching up to 50 percent, resulting in a rebound to 16,000 transactions. Meanwhile, Joseph Tsang, chairman of JLL Hong Kong, said getting rid of the 'spicy measures' would lead to a 10 to 15 percent increase in housing transaction volume this year.  However, Tsang warned the local housing market faces continued challenges from a weak economy, high interest rates, and a surplus of unsold new units, adding that home prices could still fall by 10 percent this year.