September home sales down 41% following government curbs

Home transactions value last month down 26.7% than in September 2009, while volume was 15% lower.

Hong Kong’s home sales in September fell from an almost three-year high after the government tightened mortgage rules and pledged to boost land supply to cool prices.

Transactions fell 40.5 percent to HK$41.2 billion ($5.31 billion) from HK$69.2 billion in August, the Land Registry said on its website on Tuesday. By volume, the number of residential units changing hands fell 29 percent to 10,424 in the month from 14,699, according to the government department.

Hong Kong’s home prices have surged more than 48 percent since the beginning of 2009 on record low mortgage rates and an influx of wealthy mainland Chinese buyers, according to Centaline Property Agency Ltd. The government on Aug. 13 raised down-payment ratios and said it will sell more land for development amid concerns housing is becoming unaffordable.

“The signals in the market are mixed,” said Louis Chan, managing director for residential sales at Centaline, Hong Kong’s biggest privately held real estate brokerage, before figures were announced. “Some potential buyers are waiting to see if the government will announce more measures to bring down prices. On the other hand, owners are reluctant to sell their properties at discounts.”

View the full story in Bloomberg.