Are mainland Chinese buyers still in the mood for loving Hong Kong homes?

Singapore, Dubai, Thailand, Australia, the UK and the US are just some of the other options Chinese property buyers are pursuing currently

Rising borrowing rates have made Hong Kong less attractive to mainlanders, JLL executive says

Reading Time:4 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

Luxury flats in The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue in New York are among properties receiving interest from mainland China buyers amid a ‘100 per cent uptick in demand’. Photo: Handout

Zhao Ziwenin Hong Kong,Cheryl Arcibalin Hong KongandElise Makin Beijing

Published: 9:30am, 28 May 2023Updated: 10:14am, 29 May 2023

Corrected [10:12am, 29 May, 2023]

[10:12am, 29 May, 2023]
Corrects pronoun to he from she in paragraph 6

Dong Xue, a 40-year-old Beijing native, is looking for property outside the Chinese mainland.

But even after the country’s borders reopened, allowing wealthy Chinese nationals to return to their old haunts for property purchases, a once-favoured destination is not a part of her plans.

“Hong Kong’s future is not clear,” Dong says. She owns property in Bangkok and is eyeing Japan – where she said her daughter is going for a business degree – for her next purchase.

Recent data and trends, as well as anecdotal evidence, all point to mainland Chinese buyers going beyond Hong Kong in search of new property investments. Singapore, Dubai, Thailand, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States are just some of the other options they are pursuing currently.

Interest rate hikes in Hong Kong are among reasons hindering mainland buyers, said Norry Lee, senior director of the projects strategy and consultancy department at JLL in Hong Kong.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x