According to market data, the four major agents recorded only seven to nine transactions in the top 10 estates over the past weekend and Sunday (22-23), a slight rebound week-on-week, but the bull's-eye is yet to be broken.

Centaline Property Asia Pacific Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Residential Division, Mr Chan Wing-kit, commented yesterday that the successive launches of new first-hand properties at competitive prices have stolen the spotlight from the market, and buyers are now moving between the primary and secondary markets to choose their preferred properties.

Centaline's top 10 estates recorded 9 transactions this past weekend and Sunday, a 200% week-on-week increase, although there were still 4 estates with no transactions.

Flat C in the middle and upper floors of Tung Ting Court in Cityplaza Terrace, Taikoo Shing, Hong Kong Island, with a saleable area of 580 sq ft and two bedrooms, was offered at $11.5 million earlier, but was sold for $8.74 million, or $15,069 per square foot.

The original owner bought the unit in November 2017 for $9.3 million and held it for 6 years.

According to Midland Realty's Chief Executive Officer (Hong Kong and Macau), Mr. Brahms, the new property in Pak Shek Kok, Tai Po, has recently announced its first price list, which is an effective strategy to attract the market's attention.

The bank recorded a total of 8 transactions in the top 10 blue-chip estates this past weekend, which was flat on a weekly basis and was the second consecutive week of hovering at single-digit levels.

The bank also believes that the first quarter has seen a lot of second-hand properties digested, and property prices have risen to a cumulative 8% so far, with some prospective buyers turning to a wait-and-see attitude in the face of relatively firm asking prices from owners.

The bank recorded eight transactions over the weekend, a 60% week-on-week rebound, but it has been in single digits for three consecutive weeks, and half of the housing estates have not seen any transactions, reflecting the continued slow market conditions.

In addition, Hong Kong Land's Chief Executive Officer Ma Taiyang believes that the secondary market will be in a consolidation phase this month, and when some of the corner customers continue to return to the secondary market, together with the good news that the end of the US interest rate hike is in sight, the secondary market is expected to stabilize and improve in May.

The bank's top 10 estates recorded 7 transactions in the past weekend, with only 4 estates recording transactions.

As for new properties, the market recorded nearly 30 new property sales in the past two days. SHKP's University Hill show flat in Pak Shek Kok, Tai Po, was opened to the public for the first time and received a large number of buyers in two days.

The developer revealed that the project has recorded over 13,000 visitors and the market response has been overwhelming, with the opportunity to launch additional units shortly to meet market demand. The development has received nearly 4,000 votes, which is more than 20 times more than the number of people who have been offered 184 units.

In addition, due to the banking crisis in Europe and the United States in March, global financial market volatility, coupled with news such as the US interest rate talks, the market tended to wait and see, slowing down the local property market.

Centaline Property Research's Senior Co-Director Yeung Ming Yee estimated that around 6,000 sale and purchase agreements were registered in April, down 30% month-on-month, with the number of first-hand and second-hand residential sales and purchase agreements falling by 27% and 33% respectively.

As at April 19, the number of first-hand private residential sales and purchases in April was 761 and $7.85 billion, while the number of first-hand sales and purchases for the whole month was estimated to be around 1,300 and $14 billion, down 27% and 27.3% respectively from 1,781 and $19.26 billion in March.

Reflecting the satisfactory sales of a number of new developments launched by developers in March, the number of first-hand sales stabilised at over 1,000.

As for second-hand private residential properties, as at 19 April, 1,659 transactions and $15.39 billion were recorded in April. It is estimated that there will be around 3,000 transactions and $26 billion for the month as a whole, down 33.1% and 28% respectively from the 4,485 transactions and $36.1 billion recorded in March.

The number of second-hand transactions in April is estimated to be the lowest in three months since January 2023. This indicates that a number of second-hand properties have already been absorbed, while new first-hand sales have stolen the spotlight, leading to a downward adjustment in second-hand sales.