Chinese investors cut and run from HK property

Mainland investors are bailing out on properties purchased at peak prices in Hong Kong due to problems financing the deals, the South China Morning Post reported. Only last year mainland buyers – many of them speculators from Shenzhen, Shanghai and Wenzhou – were being given tours around new projects by Hong Kong developers. With China’s stock and real estate markets now struggling, these investors have seen their wealth evaporate to the point that they are no longer able to meet payment obligations on their new properties. Fredy Wu Yat-fat, CEO of estate agency Hong Kong Property, said some mainlanders had either forfeited their uncompleted purchases or sold the assets at a loss in the secondary market. Housing prices in Hong Kong’s mass market have fallen 5-10% so far this year and analysts expect a further 20% decline.