The Hong Kong real estate market will perform well in 2025, and there will be continuous "good news" at the beginning of the new year. With the continuous emergence of favorable factors such as economic growth, expectations of interest rate cuts, and wealth effects, multiple institutions are generally optimistic that the Hong Kong real estate market will usher in a new upward cycle in 2026. In the past year, the Hong Kong economy has steadily advanced, with an overall registration volume of 80702 building purchase and sale contracts, reaching a new high in four years. Among them, there were 8999 cases in December, a new high in nearly 20 months; Last year, the total value of building purchase and sale contracts was HKD 614.277 billion, an increase of 15% year-on-year, achieving a "simultaneous increase in price and quantity". This trend continued after the New Year holiday. The first large-scale new property in Hong Kong this year, the "Sierra Sea2A Phase," located in Xisha, New Territories, has received over 42000 subscription applications and sold 213 units in the form of a price list, exceeding the purchase limit by more than 197 times, making it the most subscribed new property in the first round of sales in Hong Kong's history. On January 10th, the first batch of 213 units were sold out on the same day, with local buyers purchasing 8 units for approximately HKD 46.31 million. Industry insiders believe that this reflects the continuous improvement of the real estate market atmosphere this year. Meanwhile, according to the important indicator of Hong Kong's second-hand property market "Top 10 Housing Estates" launched by Zhongyuan Real Estate, there were 413 groups of appointments to look for properties in the past weekend, an increase of 1.5% per week. Chen Yongjie, President of the Residential Department of Zhongyuan Real Estate, analyzed that the recent positive market atmosphere has boosted buyer confidence, and it is expected that the prosperous market will extend until the Lunar New Year, and the "little spring" of the real estate market has taken shape. The real estate market is booming, and real estate agents are also rushing to deploy their annual work. Chen Haichao, head of the research department of Lijiage Real Estate, told reporters from China News Service: "We will intensify our deployment in the primary and secondary markets, including increasing manpower and improving supporting services. We hope that with the increase in trading volume, agents can also increase revenue." Behind the influx of funds into the real estate market is the combined effect of policy effects, interest rate trends, and increased demand. In recent years, the Hong Kong SAR government has put a lot of emphasis on adjusting its real estate policies, including announcing a comprehensive "withdrawal" (revocation of residential property demand management measures) in February 2024, lowering the ad valorem stamp duty one year later, relaxing the residential property regulations of the "New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme", and increasing land supply. A series of measures have significantly reduced the cost of home ownership, activated purchasing power, and increased the willingness of citizens and new arrivals to buy property. The Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Paul Chan, recently stated in a media interview that he believes that some of the approximately 300000 residents who will arrive in Hong Kong through various talent programs from the end of 2022 will "sublet to buy" due to the decrease in property prices and the increase in rent, and the demand for buying a house still exists. The sustained interest rate cut cycle is an important catalyst for driving the real estate market upward. Last year, several major banks in Hong Kong followed the external interest rate cuts multiple times, with the prime rate (P) falling between 5% and 5.25%, returning to the level before the 2022 interest rate hike. The market expects a high chance of further interest rate cuts this year, further reducing mortgage costs. More importantly, this year marks the beginning of the national "15th Five Year Plan", as mainland China expands high-level opening-up to the outside world, accelerates high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement, and brings new opportunities for Hong Kong's innovation, finance and other industries. Some analysts believe that with the continuous improvement of the Hong Kong economy, the Hong Kong real estate market has entered a new upward cycle of healthier and more sustainable development fundamentals. (New Society)