Pursuits
Hong Kong's Housing Market Looks Like It's Avoided a Bust
- Hang Seng Properties Index has climbed 18% from January low
- Developer rallies typically foreshadow real estate prices
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Hong Kong homeowners could be forgiven for fearing the worst. In a city notorious for its real estate booms and busts -- including a 70 percent tumble triggered by Asia’s financial crisis in the late 1990s -- property prices are once again sliding from all-time highs.
Yet there’s little reason to worry that the latest slump will spiral into another crash, if shares of Hong Kong’s biggest developers are anything to go by. After a 34 percent selloff from its June peak through Jan. 21, the Hang Seng Properties Index has jumped 18 percent in just two months -- outpacing the broader Hong Kong equity market by almost 7 percentage points.