Unlike Singapore where the public housing sector is strong and almost 80 per cent of the population lives in a Housing Board (HDB) flat, in Hong Kong only 21 per cent live in a public housing unit and even then, it takes them a minimum of 3 years for a successful application. Though both cities have large population, the density is higher in Hong Kong where land restrictions are greater and unlike Singapore, they hardly have means of reclaiming land and expanding liveable space vertically is one of their only solutions. It comes as no surprise then, that unit sizes and liveable floor areas are shrinking.
Many could say that Hong Kong’s real estate fluctuations is very much like its undulating terrains, with steep climbs and equally slippery downhill slopes. Property cooling measures were rolled out in Hong Kong in 2012, around the same time as curbs were implemented in Singapore as well. But it still takes an average Hong Kong household 19 years to save up enough to purchase their own home compared to the 5 years for a Singaporean household.
Though property prices did fall in February, they rebounded to the levels comparable to 2015’s peak in September this year, possibly indicating renewed interest in Hong Kong real estate from mainland buyers. Numbers seem to show that more mainland Chinese are favouring Hong Kong properties over Singapore properties, possibly since Singapore’s property market has been seeing consecutive quarters of muted growth since last year.
