Home prices fall to lowest level since September 2016
Hong Kong home prices have extended a 10-month losing streak, dropping to their lowest level since September 2016. The Rating and Valuation department on Tuesday said prices in February were down almost 13 percent from a year earlier and 1.7 percent on a monthly basis. Prices of small and medium-sized flats saw bigger falls than larger apartments. A research director of Knight Frank, Martin Wong, said the data mainly reflects the secondary home market which has been affected by high interest rates, weak purchasing power and a backlog of unsold new units. Wong said the interest rate factor may continue to have an impact on homebuyers in the first half of this year, with expectations that borrowing costs will not go down until June.