Talent helping to stabilise Hong Kong’s residential property market: minister

New arrivals to Hong Kong under its various talent schemes have helped stabilise the residential property market by filling in vacancies despite decreased local demand linked to the city’s ageing population, the labour minister has said.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han also said on Friday that the visa renewal situation for the Top Talent Pass Scheme had been “ideal”, adding that authorities would release the relevant statistics in the next two weeks.

Sun noted that it was normal for talent to choose to rent homes upon arriving in Hong Kong, and that many market analyses showed the influx of such professionals had driven the city’s housing demand.

He said the private residential rental index rose by more than 10 per cent from December 2022 to June this year.

With the local population ageing, the number of people aged 20 to 34 stood at about 1.15 million last year, down by about 240,000 from a decade ago, Sun said.

“Locals in this age group generally move out of their parents’ homes as they get employed or married, and are an important source of customers for the residential property market,” the minister wrote in a social media post.