Hong Kong Home Sales Rebound

123jump.com Staff
06 Jan, 2009
New York City

Hong Kong home sale in December rebound from a month ago but fall sharply for the year. Weak confidence, falling demand and tight lending from banks depress property sales.

[R]6:00AM New York, 6:00PM Hong Kong - Hong Kong sale and purchase agreements for residential units rise 44.2% in December from November but fall for the year.[/R]

Hong Kong stocks slipped on profit taking as investors locked in gains on expectations that Beijing will announce the rollout of its 3G program tomorrow. Telecommunication stocks fell as a result.

Losses were however pared by gains in realty stocks as the Land Registry reported that the total number of sale and purchase agreements for residential units rose in December.

In Hong Kong trading Hang Seng Index fell 0.4% or 58.30 to 15,509.51, the China Enterprises Index of Hong Kong listed mainland shares, or H shares, shed 0.4% or 32.34 to 8,664.51. In Shanghai trading CSI 300 Index gained 3.2% or 59.84 to 1,942.80.

Daily turnover on main-board increased to HK$53.9 billion from HK$49.4 billion yesterday.

Residential Sales Rise 44.2% in December

Hong Kong''s Land Registry reported the total number of sale and purchase agreements for residential units increased 44.2% to 4,706 in December from a month ago.

Residential agreements values rose 96.1% in December to HK$17.7 billion, but dropped 66% a year earlier.

The Land Registry also recorded 113,298 agreements in 2008, a decline from 145,691 a year earlier.

The value of deals declined 21.4% to HK$413.11 billion in 2008 from HK$525.63 billion in 2007.

Financial Crisis Cast Wide Net

People''s Daily Online reported today that a specialized survey by Beijing Social Facts and Public Opinion Survey Center said 69.6% of the respondents say they were directly affected by the financial crisis.

About 15.7% of respondents say they were severely affected by the crisis, of which 22.2% of the respondents are in the ages of between 41 to 50 years.

The survey notes that those least affected by the financial crisis were teachers and those who were affected most were self employed and freelance workers.

Over 70% of households with incomes below Rmb2,000 per month say they were affected by the crisis, while among the households with incomes between Rmb9,000 to Rmb9,999 per month, 32 households felt that they were affected by the financial crisis; they were the least affected group of all the households surveyed.

In addition, salaries of 54.9% of the respondents remained unchanged, while over 26% experienced a drop in income in 2008.

Salaries of civil servants were the most stable, with 50 civil servants surveyed and 42 of them saying that their salaries basically were unchanged.

Gainers & Losers

Hong Kong stocks dropped today on profit, especially in telecommunication stocks, on rumors the government will roll out 3G licenses on tomorrow.

However, losses were trimmed by rising realty stocks as December home sales rose considerably.

Sun Hung Kai Properties gained 4.2%, Henderson Land rose 4.4% to HK$32.2.

China Mobile declined 2.4% to HK$83 and China Unicom slipped 5.3% to HK$10.28.

Commodity stocks increased on rising crude oil and metal prices. China Shenhua soared 2.3% and China Coal Energy rallied 5.8%.

Shenzhen Investment increased 9.6% after Goldman Sachs raised its rating on the stock to “buy.”

China Resources Land was downgraded to “sell” by Goldman Sachs.