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Exclusive | Hong Kong developer Wharf calls for ‘comprehensive review’ of property market curbs to stop the rot in home sales, prices

  • Stephen Ng, chairman of the Wharf group, says a ‘comprehensive review’ is needed to remove market curbs as economic conditions have changed since 2009
  • Recent easing measures are inadequate and not enough to overturn the current price slide and dire sentiment

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Stephen Ng Tin-Hoi, chairman of Wharf (Holdings), has called for a review of Hong Kong’s property policies. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Peggy Sito
The Wharf group, one of Hong Kong’s biggest developers, has called for a complete review of the city’s decade-old property market curbs to help arrest a slide in home sales and prices, saying recent steps are “far from enough” to rejuvenate the economy.
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After more than 10 years, “it is time to do a comprehensive review and [that should] involve different sectors of the community to come in with different views”, Stephen Ng Tin-hoi, chairman of the property group, said in an exclusive interview. “Then we can make an informed decision about which way to go.”

Home prices have declined 15 per cent from a peak in September 2021 while transaction volume is approaching a five-year low, according to official data and industry forecasts, as higher interest rates undermined the city’s post-pandemic recovery. As external trade slumped through August and US interest-rate policy tightened, domestic property policies remain a variable or lever within the government’s control, Ng added.

02:31

Hong Kong developer Wharf calls for ‘comprehensive review’ of property market curbs

Hong Kong developer Wharf calls for ‘comprehensive review’ of property market curbs
The size of Hong Kong’s property market is about HK$6.4 trillion (US$824 billion), based on the outstanding loans for property development, investment and lendng, as well as home purchases at the end of June, according to data published by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Wednesday said the government “will adopt a pragmatic attitude and continue its reviews”. Market conditions have changed since the “management measures” were imposed in 2010, Chan added, echoing some industry players that broader easing measures were overdue.

Hong Kong’s government slammed the brakes on the property market from 2009 douse excessive price speculation, after global interest rates fell to near-zero following the Lehman Brothers collapse. Among others, authorities tightened borrowing margins, imposed higher duties on foreign purchasers, as well as on buyers who flipped their assets within three years.

01:53

Hong Kong’s financial summit ends on an upbeat note as city heads ‘back to business’

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“We strongly believe that the Hong Kong government will remove some of the harsh measures,” which could come as soon as the annual policy address next month, Raymond Cheng, head of China and Hong Kong research at CGS-CIMB Securities, said in an email. “The property market has already corrected meaningfully in the past two years.”

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