Hong Kong home prices may have fallen to their lowest point as China’s economy starts to rebound, says Ronnie Chan, chairman of Hang Lung Properties, the city’s fourth-biggest developer by market value.
Hong Kong has seen home values drop as much as 25% from the 2008 peak as the economy contracts the most in 10 years. Hang Lung has delayed offering apartments in two projects in the West Kowloon district.
Hang Lung is, in the majority, owned by Ronnie Chan and his brother Gerald Chan (see together in our illustration) who are amongst Hong Kong’s 10 richest men, with a combined net worth of $1.7 billion, according to Forbes Magazine. Chan said in an interview. ‘I don’t see another leg down. There are indications that the residential market in Hong Kong is doing O.K.; I don’t see it going down further.’
Easier bank lending, builders’ price cuts and rebounding equity markets stimulated home sales, leading to ‘encouraging signs’ in April, real estate agency Colliers International said. The number of homes sold fell 26% in March from a year earlier, the smallest drop in eight months, according to Land Registry figures.