Central Plains Real Estate: Hong Kong property prices continued to rise in the first half of the year, boosting buyers' confidence in entering the market and driving active second-hand village house trading

Zhitong Finance App learned that Yang Mingyi, senior co-director of the Central Plains Real Estate Research Department, said that in the first seven months of 2026, 1,162 second-hand village house sales contracts were recorded in the New Territories, with a total value of HK$4.611 billion, or 73.3% and 73.7% of 1,585 million HK$6.255 billion in 2025. The Hong Kong property market was clearly booming in the first half of the year. Property prices continued to rise. Coupled with falling interest rates and successive introduction of mortgage concessions by banks, it boosted buyers' confidence in entering the market and boosted the active trading of second-hand village houses. Although transactions in the second half of the year will follow a slowdown in the market, it is estimated that it will reach about 1,800 cases throughout the year, an increase of more than 10% over the previous year, and is expected to hit a five-year high after 2,321 cases in 2021.

Yeung Ming-yee pointed out that in terms of price classification statistics, 208 second-hand high-priced village houses worth HK$5 million or more were recorded in the first seven months of 2026, reaching 85.2% of the full year of last year. The ratio was the highest among all price categories, reflecting a recovery in property prices, buyers preferred to enter the market for higher-quality village houses. There were 475 transactions worth HK$300 to HK$4 million, accounting for nearly 80% of the year last year, or 79.0%. Of transactions worth HK$3 million or less and HK$400 to HK$5 million, 278 and 201, respectively, were recorded, which was only 65.9% and 63.2% of the full year of last year, down from over 70% of the market, which is relatively backward.

In the five regions where traditional village houses are located in the New Territories (including Tai Po, Yuen Long, Sai Kung, Tuen Mun and Shatin), a total of 954 cases were recorded in the first 7 months of this year, or 74.5% of the 1,280 cases last year. Yuen Long District had the most sales, with 385 registrations, Tai Po District with 217 cases, and Sai Kung District with 192 cases, ranking third.

Among the five regions, Shatin district performed best, with 68 cases recorded in the first 7 months, reaching 89.5% of last year's full year. The number of cases in Yuen Long District, Tai Po District and Sai Kung District all accounted for about 70%. It is also superior to that of the main city, reaching 75.2%, 75.1% and 75.0% of cases in the whole of last year. Only Tuen Mun District performed worse, with 92 cases recorded, compared to 62.6% of last year.

In terms of average value per case, Tuen Mun District recorded an average of HK$3.79 million per village house in the first seven months of this year, an increase of 5.8% over the full year of last year, the largest increase among the five districts. Next was Sai Kung District, which recorded an average of HK$4.56 million per case, up 5.4%. Shatin and Tai Po districts recorded an average of HK$4.82 million and HK$4.08 million per case, up 3.1% and 0.8%. However, Yuen Long recorded a decrease of 4.8% per transaction in the average amount of HK$3.7 million.