By Sonya Bryskine from Epoch Times Staff

According to the agency's latest report the value of transactions for properties valued at $HK10 million (US$1.3 million) or more totaled HK$196.67 billion ($25.3 billion) last year. The staggering growth has surpassed the 1997 property boom, which followed the government's introduction of electronic transactions of property data the year before.

The 1997 value of transactions totaled HK$173.8 billion, according to Dow Jones Newswire information. The number of luxury apartment transactions in 2010 rose 33 percent to 8,642 and was the highest number since 1997, when 9,532 transactions were recorded, the report said. Hong Kong is facing a property crisis, as prices continue to surge in a market where availability cannot satisfy the demand. Thousands are finding it increasingly difficult to own an apartment, with many living in squalid conditions, cramped into shoebox cages. 

Analysts believe the driving force of the price hike is the growing demand from the mainland China buyers, who are attracted by Hong Kong's free-market economy and relative political freedoms. Hong Kong' s luxury property transactions have hit an all-time high, surging 40 percent in 2010, says real estate agency Centraline Property Ltd.

According to the agency's latest report the value of transactions for properties valued at $HK10 million (US$1.3 million) or more totaled HK$196.67 billion ($25.3 billion) last year. The staggering growth has surpassed the 1997 property boom, which followed the government's introduction of electronic transactions of property data the year before.  The 1997 value of transactions totaled HK$173.8 billion, according to Dow Jones Newswire information. The number of luxury apartment transactions in 2010 rose 33 percent to 8,642 and was the highest number since 1997, when 9,532 transactions were recorded, the report said. 

Hong Kong is facing a property crisis, as prices continue to surge in a market where availability cannot satisfy the demand. Thousands are finding it increasingly difficult to own an apartment, with many living in squalid conditions, cramped into shoebox cages. Analysts believe the driving force of the price hike is the growing demand from the mainland China buyers, who are attracted by Hong Kong's free-market economy and relative political freedoms. 

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