American League: In the first 7 months of this year, first-hand private home transactions in Hong Kong increased 9.3% year-on-year, and the total useful area reached a record high in the same period of seven years

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Midland Property analyst Shen Songqian pointed out that trading in the first-hand housing market picked up markedly this year, and the new market performance was outstanding. According to the Midland Property Research Center's comprehensive “First-hand Residential Property Sales Information Network” data and market news, Hong Kong recorded 12,347 first-hand private home transactions in the first 7 months of this year, up about 9.3% from the previous year; it is worth noting that the total useful area involved in first-hand transactions in the first 7 months of this year recorded about 6.67 million square feet, an increase of about 20.8% over the same period last year, about 20.8% from about 5.53 million square feet in the same period last year.

Shen Songqian added that if “total transaction area” is used as a measurement indicator, it can more accurately reflect the market's ability to absorb overall supply compared to analyzing the number of transactions. Especially when the unit area is unevenly distributed or the development project covers multiple apartment types, the “total area” can better reflect the actual delivery speed and market carrying capacity.

The year-on-year increase in total usable area involved in first-hand transactions was clearly more rapid than the number of cases. The reason was that the launch of the housing exchange chain this year led to a significant increase in transactions between medium and large units. By unit area, Class C units with a saleable area of about 753 to 1,075 square feet recorded 938 transactions in the first 7 months, a sharp increase of about 85.7% year over year; Class D and Class E units also recorded year-on-year increases of about 62% and 51.7%, respectively, reflecting the gradual release of demand for building replacement.

However, market transactions are still dominated by small and medium-sized units. Class A units and Class B units recorded 5785 and 4842 transactions respectively during the same period. The year-on-year performance was relatively stable. Among them, Class A units rose by about 6.7%, while Class B declined slightly by about 0.7%, indicating that demand for small and medium-sized units continued to be the backbone of the market.

Shum Chung-him said that with the significant rise in medium and large unit transactions in the first seven months of this year, the average usable area of a first-hand private home rose to about 541 square feet, which is about 7% higher than the average of 505 square feet last year. Furthermore, the average usable area of each first-hand transaction has repeatedly rebounded from the 2022 average of about 480 square feet and hit a new high in the past 5 years, yet it is still more than 20% lower than the 2014 average of about 728 square feet.