Restrictions imposed on property buyers in the booming Chinese market are forcing investors to look at opportunities present in Hong Kong. According to figures from the Centaline Property Agency, Chinese buyers accounted for a third of new luxury home purchases in Hong Kong in the first half of 2010.
This figure is up from 20 per cent seen during the previous six months and coincides with the introduction of restrictions within the Chinese market.
Indeed, during September, China told commercial banks to stop offering loans to buyers of third homes and enforced a 30 per cent down-payment requirement to all first-home buyers.
"More curbs in the mainland will trigger more funds to move across the border," says Eddie Hui, a professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, told Bloomberg. "All that money needs a way out. There's a strong belief among mainland Chinese that investing in property is the best way to preserve capital value."