Hong Kong shines over the rest of Asia

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 18): Residential property price growth in Hong Kong was 16.43% in the second quarter of 2015 (2Q2015), outpacing that of the rest of Asia, according to UK-based Global Property Guide 2Q2015’s recent report.

“Hong Kong’s residential property prices surged by 16.43% during the year to 2Q2015, a sharp turnaround from a drop of 0.66% during 2Q2013 to 2Q2014. Hong Kong’s housing market slowed sharply in the first half of 2014 due to government cooling measures but bounced back strongly with housing prices rising by 3.83% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) during 2Q2015,” said the report.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the average price of a three-bedroom condominium unit in the Makati central business district (CBD) surged 6.61% in 2Q2015 on an annual basis, reflecting an acceleration from the 2.73% price increase in 2Q2014.

Other countries that have shown price growth in 2Q include Japan (6.13%), Thailand (3.72%) and South Korea (2.03%).

Meanwhile, half of Asia continued to lose steam, with five out of 10 Asian markets seeing prices fall during the quarter under review. These countries are Singapore (-3.38%), Taiwan (-2.16%), Indonesia (-1.74%), Vietnam (-0.27%) and China (-0.12%).Four performed worse than the previous year.

Singapore’s housing market continues to struggle, with house prices falling by 3.38% on an annual basis in 2Q2015, marking its seventh consecutive quarter of house price falls. House prices fell by 0.69% q-o-q during the latest quarter.

The report also compiled home prices from all over the world, which indicated that house prices have surged in some parts of Europe, namely Ireland (10.88%), Estonia (8.99%) and Iceland (6.19%).

Meanwhile, home prices in the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Ukraine declined 11.7%, 11.1% and 10.6% y-o-y respectively.

“House prices rose in 24 out of 39 of the world’s housing markets y-o-y, which have published housing statistics using inflation-adjusted figures. The numbers have shown that house prices have surged in 28 countries and declined in 11 countries,” said the report.

This article first appeared in property+, a section of the digitaledge DAILY, on Sept 18, 2015. Download property+ for free here.