Hong Kong sees 10-month high in upscale home sales

Hong Kong is riding a 10-month high in transactions involving upmarket real estate deals, with former chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group Holding Zhang Yong joining the wave after purchasing a luxury home in Mid-Levels for HK$53.54 million (US$6.89 million).

In the first 20 days of October, 78 first-hand private residential sales priced between HK$30 million and HK$49.99 million were registered, according to Land Registry data.

“This represents a 24 per cent increase from the 63 transactions for the entire month of September and a 2.9-fold increase from the low of 20 in January this year,” said Derek Chan, head of research at Ricacorp Properties. “This represents a 10-month high.”

The purchases come a month after Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s policy address, where he announced the lowering of the entry threshold for residential properties under the Investor Entry Scheme from HK$50 million to HK$30 million.

Mid-Levels Central led the surge with 34 transactions, followed by Mid-Levels West with 15 and Kai Tak with 13, reflecting the preference of investment immigrants, Chan said.