In the first quarter, Hong Kong's new home transaction volume reached a 13-year high, with a "big buyer" purchasing 9 units at once

Since 2026, the Hong Kong property market has shown significant signs of recovery. According to data from Centaline Property, in the first quarter of this year, the Hong Kong new housing market recorded a total of 5,373 sale registrations, involving a total amount of HKD 62.8 billion. These two figures represent year-on-year increases of 38% and 94%, respectively, both setting new highs for the same period in history. Due to the lag in registration data, the actual transaction volume of new homes in the first quarter reached 6,300, marking a new high for the same period since the implementation of new regulations for first-hand properties in Hong Kong in 2013. It is worth mentioning that the recovery of the Hong Kong property market has led to a rare "buying spree" by large buyers in the new housing market in recent years. According to Centaline Property data, as of March 20, 2026, there were a total of 265 cases of large buyers entering the market in the first quarter across Hong Kong (referring to the same buyer purchasing more than one unit in the same estate within a month), setting a new high for the same period since 2008. In the first quarter of this year, the 265 large transactions involved 695 units, with a total transaction amount of HKD 7.13 billion, accounting for more than 10% of the overall new housing registration volume. Monitoring data shows that the average entry threshold for each group of large buyers reached HKD 26.91 million. Compared to the 117 cases in the same period of 2025, this represents an increase of about 1.3 times year-on-year; if further compared to the only 15 cases in the first quarter of 2023 "before the cooling measures," this year's first-quarter data has surged nearly 17 times. Chen Yongjie, Vice Chairman of Centaline Property Asia Pacific and President of the Residential Department, believes that this reflects that, against the backdrop of a comprehensive market recovery, strong investors are actively entering the market to fully layout the new housing market. Centaline Property's monitoring information shows that the "ticket king" project SIERRA SEA under Sun Hung Kai Properties became the top large buyer entry in the first quarter, recording 166 cases of large purchases in a single quarter, involving as many as 447 units, with a total transaction amount of HKD 2.75 billion. This project also became the "most lucrative" new project in the first quarter with 1,468 registrations and a transaction amount of HKD 9.18 billion. In addition to large estates, single buildings in urban areas are also highly sought after, with North Point's Ka Kwan · Tin Hau and Yau Ma Tei's The Henley III performing outstandingly, recording 10 groups (involving 27 units) and 8 groups (involving 33 units) of large buyer records, respectively. Notably, The Henley III under New World Properties sold all 63 units of the entire project at the end of last year on the same day. Moreover, the phenomenon of "one buyer, multiple purchases" has frequently appeared in the recent new housing market. Centaline Property statistics show that in the first quarter of this year, there were as many as 160 groups of large buyers who purchased two units; 55 groups purchased three units; 34 groups bought four units; and even 12 groups of "super large buyers" acquired five or more units at once. Among the most eye-catching transactions, two large buyers entered the market under company names, each purchasing nine units at once, with one spending HKD 72.91 million on The Henley III in Kai Tak; the other purchased units in SIERRA SEA Phase 2B for HKD 58.41 million. Chen Yongjie analyzed that the first quarter has traditionally been a slow season for the property market in previous years, but this year the market situation has clearly reversed. With clear signals indicating that the property market has bottomed out, property prices have rebounded by more than 10% compared to the low point in March last year. Buyers generally have the mentality that "buying late will be more expensive," coupled with a wave of bulk purchases driven by "one customer, multiple purchases," leading to a rapid warming of the market and triggering a strong "mini-spring" ahead of schedule. Chen Yongjie further pointed out that despite fluctuations in the Middle East situation, the impact on the Hong Kong property market is expected to be limited, and it may even attract safe-haven funds. As purchasing power continues to be released, along with active participation from mainland buyers, it is expected that the number of first-hand transactions in the second quarter could reach 7,000, and the market is likely to maintain strong momentum. The second-hand housing market also performed brightly. According to data from Centaline Property, in March, second-hand housing recorded 4,621 transactions and HKD 35.84 billion, representing a quarter-on-quarter increase of 18.1% and 20.7%, respectively. According to the agency's monitoring, the second-hand property market significantly warmed up before the Lunar New Year, with the number of transactions exceeding 4,000, reaching a new high of 56 months (over 4.5 years) since July 2021's 5,088 transactions, and the amount reached a new high of 36 months (3 years) since March 2023's HKD 36.1 billion. In terms of quarterly performance, in the first quarter of this year, Hong Kong's second-hand housing recorded 12,449 transactions and HKD 94.91 billion, with quarter-on-quarter increases of 13.6% and 12.4%, respectively. The number of transactions is the highest in 18 quarters since the third quarter of 2021, while the amount is the highest in 15 quarters since the second quarter of 2022. In terms of prices, data from the Hong Kong Rating and Valuation Department shows that in February this year, the private residential price index was reported at 307.6 points, an increase of 1.5% compared to January 2026. The private residential price index in Hong Kong has risen for 11 consecutive months since March 2025