China News Service, Hong Kong, November 11 (Reporter Wang Jiacheng) Citibank released on the 11th a survey of Hong Kong citizens' home ownership intentions for the third quarter of 2021.

According to the survey, 13% of respondents intending to buy a home, a slight decrease of 1% from the previous quarter, and a drop of 4 percentage points from the 17% in the first quarter of this year.

4% of respondents think it is a good time to buy a home, a drop of 3 percentage points from 7% in the previous quarter.

  Li Guizhuang, head of retail banking at Citibank, said that the survey was commissioned by the Social Science Research Center of the University of Hong Kong to interview more than 500 Hong Kong citizens between the ages of 21 and 60 through random telephone calls.

The survey is conducted quarterly, and this year's interviews were conducted in March, June and September.

  According to the survey, 67% of the respondents who have a positive view on the timing of buying, exchanging or buying a house have actual needs or hope to improve their living environment; 41% believe that the property market now has more choices, and that the property market is stable and bargaining. The space accounted for 20% and 15% respectively.

In the past month, the number of active buyers fell from 11% in the previous quarter to 7%, a slight decrease of 1% from the same period last year.

Among this group of active buyers, 63% said they would consider applying for a mortgage insurance plan when buying a house.

  The US Federal Reserve (Fed) announced earlier that it would reduce the monthly debt purchases by US$15 billion starting in November.

Li Guizhuang said that the Fed may end its balance sheet reduction from June to July next year, but the inflation environment may accelerate the local settlement early next year, reducing the size of debt purchases every month or expanding to US$20 billion to US$30 billion.

It is expected that the Fed will raise interest rates as early as June next year, and it may raise interest rates three times throughout the year. Hong Kong's mortgage interest rates have the opportunity to increase accordingly. The public must make arrangements for mortgages.

  As for property prices, the survey shows that the proportion of respondents who are optimistic about property prices in the next 12 months has fallen from the 54% high in the second quarter to 38%.

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