HK buyers exceed local buyers in properties bought in Hengqin

Jacky Shek

For the first time, there are more Hong Kong residents purchasing properties in Hengqin than Macau residents, the Centaline Property (Macau) revealed yesterday during a press conference on the Macau and Hengqin property market in 2018.

Some 27.9 percent of Hengqin property buyers are Hong Kong residents, while 27.3 percent are Macau buyers.

This outcome was facilitated by the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, and is also a result of more Macau single-plated cars being allowed to enter Hengqin, according to Centaline Property analysis.

According to the company, in 2018, a total of 38,486 transactions of Zhuhai property were made, representing an increase of more than 30 percent.

In addition to this increase, Centaline Property (Macau) director Jacky Shek Po Tak expects property prices to increase in 2019 by about 20 percent.

The implementation of the Zhuhai talented people program and the relaxation of talented people’s housing purchase policy, among other policies for talented human resources, are believed to attract more talented people to Hengqin, which suggests a likely surging demand for houses in the area across 2019.

The most popular criteria for buyers in Hengqin is the proximity to the Hengqin border gate, as 34 percent of Hengqin’s property sales were in the vicinity of the Hengqin border.

Among the property transactions around the border, approximately 49 percent were transactions of commercial properties, followed by office property transactions (38 percent).

Regarding the Macau property market, Shek predicted that, this year, the number of transactions concerning first- hand house purchases will decrease to approximately 8,000, which means that each of the city’s real estate agents will deal with an average of 1.5 transactions.

Currently, there are 5,456 real estate licensed agents in Macau.

Pun Chi Meng, Secretary-General of Centaline (Macau), reported that the commissions earned by the company from Hengqin transactions amounted to approximately HKD170 million in 2018, which was a slight decrease compared to the previous year.

“Commissions concerning Hengqin properties increased 10 percent,” said Pun, “whereas commissions from the Macau market decreased several percentage points.”

Commissions from the entire Asia Pacific market reached HKD5.4 billion, marking a new historical peak for Centaline’s commission earnings.

Altogether, Centaline’s company branches earned a total of HKD18.9 billion in commissions in 2018.