The rebound in the property market is just the beginning. With new properties entering the market from February onwards, the property market is expected to return to 4,200 new property transactions in the first quarter, a significant rebound of about 3.9 times quarter-on-quarter, while secondary transactions are expected to reach 14,000, up 68% quarter-on-quarter.
Mr Bo pointed out that customs clearance has been the catalyst for the property market to turn from a decline to an increase, with both first and second-hand transactions rising since the resumption of full customs clearance.
In January, the number of new property transactions rose back to the 500 level, and the performance in February was further improved, with 510 transactions recorded in the first 19 days, already surpassing the whole month of January and temporarily hitting a five-month high.
Second-hand transactions also increased significantly, with a total of 700 transactions in the 35 major housing estates in the seven weeks so far this year, nearly 28% higher than the 548 transactions in the previous seven weeks, according to the bank's branch statistics. Driven by the rebound in transactions, property prices took a sharp "U-turn" from down to up, and are rising more and more. The Midland Property Price Index was last quoted at 149.08 points, up 0.74% week-on-week, rising for seven weeks in a row, with a cumulative increase of about 2.1% and a 12-week high.
Among the three districts, property prices in Hong Kong Island rose the most, reaching 3.9%.
Mr Bo pointed out that one of the characteristics of the rebound in property prices is the "spring-like" rebound in the transaction prices of the target estates, the greater the decline last year, the stronger the rebound this year, the increase outperformed the market.
Taikoo Shing, for example, saw a 25.4% drop in transaction prices last year, but has rebounded by 22.3% this year, making it the best performing blue chip estate.
The same can be said for Mei Foo Sun Chuen, which has rebounded by 16.2% this year from a 27.4% drop in transaction prices last year.
In addition, based on second-hand private property registrations with known purchase prices, and after deducting known internal transfers and special transactions, the book-to-bill ratio rose to 84.6% in February this year (as at 17 February), a four-month high.
As property prices and transactions pick up, there is less and less chance of the Budget cutting back on the hype, and it will only focus on the mortgage loan-to-value ratio, further extending the 90% loan-to-value ratio to properties under $20 million.
However, he also called on the government to propose concrete measures, such as abolishing the DSD, to facilitate people to change their properties and speed up the mobility of the Hong Kong population.
In addition, the stamp duty for properties under $5 million should be reduced to $100 across the board to reduce the burden on Hong Kong people to enter the market.
