Hong Kong's private residential rent index rose nine times in a row, property prices pulled back slightly, and Midland Properties predicts another 5% rise in property prices in the second half of the year

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the Hong Kong Rating and Property Valuation Department announced that in July, the Hong Kong private residential rent index rose by about 0.78% month-on-month, rising for 9 consecutive months, and continued to reach record highs. Midland Property analyst Shen Songqian said that entering the traditional peak rental season, combined with rising demand for family relocation during the summer vacation, has led to a further improvement in the performance of the rental market. At the same time, the Government is actively promoting Hong Kong as an international education hub. The number of people coming to Hong Kong for further education continues to increase. Along with the continued influx of professionals, they have injected new demand into the Hong Kong private residential rental market and supported rents. It is worth noting that the Hong Kong Differential Assessment Authority also announced that the private residential sales price index fell by about 0.46% month-on-month in July. The rent index outperformed the sales price index for two consecutive months, providing positive support for the return on rent.

Shum Chung-him pointed out that the Differential Assessment Service's private residential rent index continues to rise, and the trend of the US Union's “Rent Chart” is also roughly similar. The latest US Union's “Rent Chart” reported an average rent of about HK$40.55 per square foot for a private home in July, up about 1.35% month-on-month, for 7 consecutive months. Since reaching a record high in January this year, it has shown a strong “monthly peak” trend for 7 consecutive months, and it has been rising by about 4.7% in the first 7 months of this year. Supported by the traditional peak rental season... it is expected that the rise in rents in August will continue and continue to break the peak.

In terms of property prices, Shum Chung-him said that the Hong Kong Differential Assessment Service announced that the private residential sales price index fell by about 0.46% month-on-month in July, but it is expected that the current round of property price increases is not over. In fact, after rising for 13 consecutive months, property prices showed a brief consolidation, which is a normal adjustment in the rising market. Most importantly, the current economic fundamentals are stable, such as strong GDP in the first half of the year, the amount of capital raised by Hong Kong IPOs surpassing last year, etc., bringing substantial support to the property market; with the recent recovery in new market transactions, reflecting strong market carrying capacity; at the same time, rents continued to break the peak and rising rental costs further drive the desire to “rent to buy”. Coupled with excellent rent performance in the past two months, it has brought support to the return on rent, increase long-term investment demand, and bring support to the strong future market. It is expected that property prices will rise again in the second half of the year. Up about 5%.