抗拒地心引力 香港房價屢創新高
Home prices in Hong Kong have reached their highest point ever, according to an index compiled by one of the city's largest property agencies.
香港最大房地產中介公司之一編制的一項指標顯示，該城市房價已經觸及了歷史最高點。'We have three [indexes]: one is the whole market, one measures small units and one measures high-end units,' said Sandia Lau, a director at Centaline Property. 'All of them are at a record high.'
中原地產(Centaline Property)董事劉瑛琳(Sandia Lau)稱，他們有三個指標：一個是整體市場，一個是衡量小戶型住宅的，一個是衡量高端住宅的；這三個指標全都觸及了紀錄高點。The Centa-City index is compiled every week by tracking recent transaction prices of 118 of the most-traded units in Hong Kong, the second-most expensive real estate market in the world. A property in the city's exclusive Peak neighborhood was just listed for HK$819.1 million, the world's most expensive home per square foot.
中原城市(Centa-City)指數每週編制一次，追蹤的是香港118個交易最活躍的樓盤的近期成交價格。香港房地產是全球第二昂貴的市場，位於該城市獨有的太平山頂社區的一棟房子最新報價爲8.191億港元，單價爲全球最貴。
Analysts attribute Hong Kong's steadily rising prices to a series of economic and regulatory factors. A combination of low interest rates, currency stability and stringent government regulations on development have fed years of demand while buildable land, always scarce in Hong Kong, continues to shrink.
分析師們把香港房價穩步上漲歸因爲一系列經濟和監管因素。利率較低、幣值穩定、政府對開發的監管嚴格，這些因素加在一起，助長了數年來的需求，同時在香港總是稀缺的可建設土地繼續萎縮。'There's still a low interest rate, which makes demand a bit urgent now, ' Ms. Lau said. 'People feel the economy is quite stable, and because [the Hong Kong dollar] is [pegged] to the U.S. dollar, it attracts foreign money--people are trying to buy assets to protect their money from depreciation.'
劉瑛琳稱，目前香港利率依然很低，這使得現在的需求有點急迫，人們感覺經濟很穩定，而且因爲港元釘住了美元，其吸引來了外資――人們試圖購買資產來保值。She also pointed out that various regulations hinder injections of new housing supply into the market. 'You can only build so many units, they have to be a certain size... When the Hong Kong government puts land on auction, they put limitations on it,' she added.
劉瑛琳還指出，香港許多規定阻礙了新住房供應進入市場。她補充稱，當香港政府拍賣土地時有一些限制性要求，會對住宅單元建造數量和麪積作出規定。Prices hit new highs despite extensive government measures to cool the red-hot market. In 2012, three new property taxes were rolled out in quick succession, including a 15 percent tax on foreign buyers meant to deter speculators from mainland China. But in the two years since the measures were enacted, the index has only continued to climb, rising from 94.02 in February 2012--when the last of the taxes were implemented--to 134.14 today. (The index is anchored to prices in July 1997, which are represented by a value of 100.)
儘管香港政府已採取各種舉措爲火熱的房地產市場降溫，但當地房價仍創出新高。2012年時，香港接連新推出了三項房地產相關稅收，其中包括對境外購房者徵收15%的印花稅，旨在阻止來自中國大陸的投機者。但這些舉措實施兩年以來，中原城市指數仍一路攀升，由2012年2月（最後一批稅收舉措實施）的94.02升至週一的134.14。（該指數基期數值爲1997年7月的100）。Wong Leung-Sing, associate director of research at Centaline, says the record-breaking market has mixed significance for the city. 'Over the last 20 years, the Hong Kong property market has been up very sharply and down very sharply,' he said, referring to how prices plummeted in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, a fact later compounded by the SARS epidemic. 'It's not very healthy.'
中原地產研究主管黃良升表示，房價創出新高對香港的影響有好有壞。他稱，過去20年中，香港地產市場曾大起大落，例如亞洲金融危機過後（加上之後非典疫情爆發），房價曾暴跌。他說，這種走勢不是很健康。He also expects more records to be broken, predicting that prices will rise another five percent by the end of the quarter.
黃良升預計，香港房價還會再創新高，第三季度結束前將再上漲五個百分點。
