Another interesting article on RE bubbles.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704740204576272720044918328.html(its paid so not sure you can see it)
But some highlights from article.
Prices of Hong Kong properties jumped 24% last year on top of a 30% surge in 2009, according to local property indexes.
Since the November measures, average housing prices have risen an additional 15%, according to an index compiled by Centaline, a property agency. Sales volume increased 9% in March from February, according to the latest Land Registry report.
A survey on global housing affordability, published by Demographia International in January, ranked Hong Kong last among 325 urban markets. The territory's median house price was 11.4 times Hong Kong's gross annual median household income.
By comparison, New York ranked 68th in affordability, with prices at 6.1 times median income. Atlanta was ranked most affordable; the median home price was 2.3 times income.
Hong Kong's housing prices now are above the peak reached in 1997, just before a financial crisis hammered most of the region, Mr. Tsang noted.
But others doubt that rising mortgage rates will stem demand, because of mainland Chinese buyers who don't rely much on loans to buy property. Newly affluent Chinese account for some 30% of luxury real-estate purchases in Hong Kong. (FCB anyone?)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704740204576272720044918328.html(its paid so not sure you can see it)
But some highlights from article.
Prices of Hong Kong properties jumped 24% last year on top of a 30% surge in 2009, according to local property indexes.
Since the November measures, average housing prices have risen an additional 15%, according to an index compiled by Centaline, a property agency. Sales volume increased 9% in March from February, according to the latest Land Registry report.
A survey on global housing affordability, published by Demographia International in January, ranked Hong Kong last among 325 urban markets. The territory's median house price was 11.4 times Hong Kong's gross annual median household income.
By comparison, New York ranked 68th in affordability, with prices at 6.1 times median income. Atlanta was ranked most affordable; the median home price was 2.3 times income.
Hong Kong's housing prices now are above the peak reached in 1997, just before a financial crisis hammered most of the region, Mr. Tsang noted.
But others doubt that rising mortgage rates will stem demand, because of mainland Chinese buyers who don't rely much on loans to buy property. Newly affluent Chinese account for some 30% of luxury real-estate purchases in Hong Kong. (FCB anyone?)