Mr Chan Wing-kit, Chief Executive of Centaline Property's residential division, said that the lifting of the muzzle order means that Hong Kong is back to normal, and that the property market is set to rebound steadily, with property prices expected to rebound by more than 10% in the first half of the year, thanks to the Budget's reduction in stamp duty.

Chan Wing-kit said, into the year 2023, the property market good news after good news, with the market on the top of the interest rate expectations, coupled with the full customs clearance between Hong Kong and the Mainland at the beginning of the month, the new budget announced a reduction in stamp duty for first-time buyers, related policies to stimulate the property market on the boom, further boost residential property transactions.

The first batch of 148 units was sold out on the same day, making it the first new property to be sold out in the past year.

860 new properties sold in February

The resumption of sales activities for major new developments pushed up the overall first-hand transaction volume.

As at 27 February, there were 860 new property transactions in Hong Kong, a six-month high, up by nearly 70% from January.

With Hong Kong back to normal, the pace of property launches is also back to normal, with at least six new properties involving over 3,600 units to be launched next month. Therefore, Chan Wing Kit estimated that the number of first-hand transactions in March would reach 2,000, and together with January and February, the number of first-hand transactions in the first quarter may exceed 3,300, which is about 2.8 times higher than the 800-odd transactions in the fourth quarter of last year.

Second-hand transactions were also strong, with Centaline facilitating over 1,000 second-hand transactions for two consecutive months and recording over 2,300 transactions in the first two months of this year, an increase of nearly 60% year-on-year, making both first and second-hand transactions strong.

In terms of property prices, the Centaline City Leading Index CCL, which reflects secondary property prices in Hong Kong, surged by more than 2% last week, the largest increase since October 2016.

CCL from the low in December last year, so far rebounded nearly 5%. Chan Wing-kit predicts that property prices are expected to rebound by more than 10% in the first half of this year, with some estates expected to recover the ground lost during the epidemic.