Hong Kong ferry services to several outlying islands and across Victoria Harbour will be temporarily adjusted on the morning of July 6 as authorities implement special maritime traffic arrangements. The city’s Transport Department said services on five outlying island routes and nine inner-harbour routes may be disrupted between about 10:00 a.m. and 10:45 a.m., and urged passengers, particularly island residents, to plan journeys in advance and allow extra travel time.

The changes coincide with the scheduled end of a Hong Kong port call by a PLA Navy task group comprising the guided-missile destroyer Nanning and guided-missile frigate Hengyang. During the affected period, specific sailings on the Central–Cheung Chau, Central–Mui Wo, Central–Peng Chau, Ma Wan–Central and Central–Discovery Bay routes will be delayed, brought forward or canceled. For example, the 10:45 a.m. Central–Cheung Chau departure will leave at 11:00 a.m., while Central–Mui Wo sailings at 10:00 a.m. from Mui Wo and 10:30 a.m. from Central will shift to 10:20 a.m. and 10:50 a.m., respectively. The 10:45 a.m. Central–Peng Chau sailing will instead depart at 10:30 a.m.

Services between Ma Wan and Central will see both the 10:00 a.m. departure from Ma Wan and the 10:30 a.m. departure from Central canceled. On the Central–Discovery Bay route, the 10:10 a.m. sailing from Discovery Bay and the 10:40 a.m. sailing from Central will also be canceled. Within Victoria Harbour, nine routes — Wan Chai–Tsim Sha Tsui, Central–Tsim Sha Tsui, North Point–Hung Hom, North Point–Kowloon City, Central–Hung Hom, North Point–Kwun Tong, water taxis, Sai Wan Ho–Kwun Tong and Sai Wan Ho–Sam Ka Tsuen — may be subject to temporary changes of up to about 30 minutes depending on conditions.

To mitigate the impact, operators will strengthen bus services serving Mui Wo, Discovery Bay and Ma Wan during the disruption window. New Lantao Bus route 3M between Mui Wo Ferry Pier and Tung Chung Station will run more frequently, while Discovery Bay’s DB03R route to Sunny Bay Station will also be enhanced. Additional special services on Ma Wan resident bus route NR338S, running in a loop between Ma Wan (Tung Wan Bus Terminus) and Central Pier No. 2, will be provided. Authorities will further introduce a free shuttle bus from outside the Discovery Bay Fire Station to Central Pier No. 3. The Transport Department’s Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre will operate around the clock to monitor maritime traffic and public transport, aiming to restore normal ferry services as soon as practicable and strengthen capacity where necessary to ease passenger congestion.

Hong Kong’s residential property market is extending a steady recovery, with key price gauges approaching levels last seen nearly three years ago, even as analysts warn momentum is likely to moderate in the coming quarter. The Centaline City Leading Index (CCL), which tracks secondary private home prices, rose for a fourth straight week to 159.94, up 0.57% on the week and 1.58% over the past month, marking its highest reading since around September 2023. The index has gained about 10.98% so far this year, underscoring a strong rebound in the second-hand segment.

Market data suggest the upswing is broad-based across different flat sizes, with larger units showing particular strength recently. Sub-indices for large housing estates and small-to-medium units advanced 0.61% and 0.43% respectively over the week, each climbing for a second consecutive week to near three-year highs. Prices of large units rose 1.25% in the latest week, extending a three-week gain of 3.01% to reach a two-and-a-half-year high. Regionally, Kowloon led with a 1.31% weekly rise to a near three-year high, while Hong Kong Island added 1.12% over the week and 2.34% across two weeks. New Territories East and West slipped 0.38% and 0.24%, ending their recent upward runs.

The official Rating and Valuation Department’s private home price index paints a similar picture of sustained recovery over a longer horizon. The index climbed 1.42% in the latest month to 321.9, its 12th consecutive monthly gain and a 12.36% increase from a year earlier. For the first five months of the year, official prices are up 7.44%. Still, both the CCL and the official gauge remain below their 2021 peaks: the CCL is about 16.41% under its August 2021 record of 191.34, while the government index is roughly 19.14% shy of its September 2021 high of 398.1, highlighting the distance yet to recover from the last cycle’s top.

Smaller units continue to outperform. Prices for A, B and C category flats — those up to 1,076 square feet — advanced 1.47% month on month and 12.57% year on year to 324.2 on the official scale, the highest level in about 32 months. Larger D and E category units of 1,076 square feet or more also rose, but at a slower clip, with their index up 1.17% on the month and 8.99% on the year to a roughly 31‑month high of 284.9. In the secondary market, sentiment is being reinforced by record-setting deals: at Yuet, a redevelopment project in Cheung Sha Wan near the MTR station, a one‑bedroom flat recently changed hands for HK$6.088 million, or HK$17,394 per square foot on a usable basis, the highest price per square foot recorded in the estate’s second-hand market. The seller, who bought in the first launch about two years ago, booked a paper gain of more than HK$870,000, illustrating improving prospects for recent purchasers.

That momentum, however, is colliding with a more uncertain macro backdrop and shifting financial conditions. Since late May, tightened action by mainland regulators against illegal cross-border investment has weighed on Hong Kong equities, with continued stock market weakness and slower first-hand project sales feeding into more protracted bargaining in the secondary segment. Concerns that the US may raise interest rates again have also contributed to a more cautious tone among buyers. Centaline analysts expect the pace of home-price gains to slow from the latter part of the third quarter, as the earlier surge gives way to more selective demand.

Financing dynamics are another source of restraint. According to industry commentary, an easing of tensions in the Middle East has coincided with capital outflows from Hong Kong, pushing interbank rates higher and reducing the scope for further cuts in mortgage costs in the near term. With prices having already rebounded, rental yields have edged lower, prompting some potential investors to reconsider the timing of their purchases. Even so, the leasing market remains firm: the official rental index reached 204.1 in the latest month, up 0.34% and notching its seventh straight advance to a record high, 5.1% above a year earlier and about 1.8% higher over the first five months of the year.

For now, the data point to a housing market that has clearly emerged from its recent trough but is still some distance from its historic highs, with gains increasingly vulnerable to shifts in global interest-rate expectations and equity-market sentiment. Developers face the added challenge of new supply from large-scale projects in coming years, which could divert some demand away from the secondary sector. With both price and rent indices on multi‑month winning streaks, the balance between affordability, financing costs and investment returns is likely to determine how durable Hong Kong’s latest property upswing proves to be.