Hong Kong's new home transaction volume in the first quarter hits a 13-year high, with a "big buyer" purchasing 9 properties at once.

Ask AI · Why has Hong Kong’s housing market heated up unusually in the first quarter of 2026?

Since 2026, Hong Kong’s housing market has rebounded clearly.

Centaline Property’s monitoring data shows that in this year’s first quarter, Hong Kong’s new home market recorded 5,373 transaction registrations in total, involving a total value of HK$62.8 billion. Both figures are up 38% and 94% year over year, respectively, and have both reached the highest levels for the same period in history. Because registration data lags actual transactions, the actual number of new home deals in the first quarter was 6,300 transactions, also setting a new high for the same period since the introduction of Hong Kong’s first-hand home sales rules in 2013.

It is worth noting that, driven by the housing market rebound, the new home market has recently seen an unusually rare “stock-up frenzy” by large buyers. According to Centaline data, as of March 20, the whole of Hong Kong’s new projects in the first quarter of 2026 recorded 265 “large buyer” entry cases (meaning the same buyer purchases more than one unit in the same residential estate within a one-month period), the highest for the same period since 2008. In the first quarter this year, these 265 large transactions involved 695 units, with a total consideration of HK$7.13 billion. Large buyers’ transaction value alone accounted for more than 10% of the total new home registrations.

Monitoring data shows that the entry threshold for an average large buyer group was HK$26.91 million. Compared with 117 cases in the same period of 2025, that is up by about 1.3 times year over year. If further compared with the 15 cases in the first quarter of 2023, which was only available before the “cooling measures were lifted,” this year’s first-quarter figure has surged nearly 17 times.

Centaline Property’s Asia Pacific regional vice chairman and chief executive of residential properties, Kenny Chan Wing-kit, believes this reflects that, against the backdrop of a full market recovery, strong investors are rushing into the market and rolling out comprehensive plans for the new-project market.

Centaline Property’s monitoring information shows that SIERRA SEA at Shau Kei Wan (“the ticket king” unit) under Sun Hung Kai Properties became the top project for large buyers in the first quarter. In the quarter, it recorded 166 large buyer stock-up cases, involving as many as 447 units, with a total transaction value of HK$2.75 billion. The project also became the “cash cow” new project in the first quarter, with 1,468 registrations and a transaction value of HK$9.18 billion. In addition to large-scale estates, city-area single-building projects are also attracting strong capital inflows. Among them, Ko Yee · Causeway Bay and Yau Ma Tei 瑧尔 performed prominently, recording 10 groups (involving 27 units) and 8 groups (involving 33 units) of large buyer records, respectively. It is also worth noting that瑧尔 under New World began selling all 63 units ahead of schedule in late last year and was fully sold out on the same day.

In addition, the “one buyer multiple meals” phenomenon has appeared frequently in the recent new-project market. Centaline statistics show that in the first quarter this year, large buyers who purchased two units numbered as many as 160 groups; those who purchased three units were 55 groups; buyers who snapped up four units also had 34 groups. There were even 12 groups of “super large buyers” that took down 5 or more units in one go. Among the two most eye-catching transactions, involving two large buyers who entered the market under corporate names, one bought as many as 9 units in one go; that person spent HK$72.91 million to buy The Henley III in Kai Tak. The other person, meanwhile, purchased units in the SIERRA SEA Phase 2B in succession for HK$58.41 million.

Kenny Chan’s analysis points out that in past years, the first quarter was often a traditional slack season for the housing market, while this year the market sentiment has clearly reversed. With signs that the market has bottomed out becoming clear, property prices have rebounded more than 10% compared with the March low last year. Buyers generally have a mindset of “if you buy later, it will be more expensive,” combined with the large-buyers’ stock-up frenzy of “one buyer multiple meals,” driving the market to heat up quickly and triggering the strong “early spring rally” ahead of schedule.

Kenny Chan further said that although volatility in the Middle East may occur, it is expected to have limited impact on Hong Kong’s housing market; instead, it may attract safe-haven capital to flow in. With purchasing power continuing to be released, and with Mainland buyers actively entering the market, it is expected that first-hand transactions in the second quarter could reach 7,000 deals, and the market is likely to maintain a strong momentum.

The secondary housing market is also performing impressively. According to Centaline data, in March, the secondary housing market recorded 4,621 transactions and HK$35.84 billion in value, up 18.1% and 20.7% month over month, respectively. Based on the organization’s monitoring, the secondary market visibly heated up before the Chinese New Year, with transaction counts exceeding 4,000, reaching a new high for more than 56 months (over 4.5 years) since 5,088 transactions in July 2021. In terms of value, it also reached a new high for the 36 months (3 years) since HK$36.10 billion in March 2023. On a quarterly basis, in the first quarter of this year, Hong Kong’s secondary housing market recorded 12,449 transactions and HK$94.91 billion in value, up 13.6% and 12.4% quarter over quarter, respectively. The number of transactions was the highest in 18 quarters since the third quarter of 2021, while the transaction value was the highest in 15 quarters since the second quarter of 2022.

In terms of prices, data from the Rating and Valuation Department shows that the private residential property price index in Hong Kong in February this year was 307.6 points, up 1.5% from January 2026. The private residential property price index has been rising for 11 consecutive months since March 2025.