(Yicai) April 3 -- New home sales in Hong Kong surged last month to the highest level since 1998 due to the removal of stamp duties to revitalize the stagnant market, according to a local real estate agency.

Some 4,200 new homes were bought in the special administrative region in March, rising by 15 times from a year ago, The Paper reported today, citing data from Midland Realty.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po announced on Feb. 28 that all demand-side management measures for residential property will be lifted, including special stamp duty, buyer's stamp duty, and new residential stamp duty.

An analyst said to The Paper that transactions could retreat this month but for the whole second quarter, sales of new homes could tally from 5,500 to 6,000 units, up by 22 percent from the previous quarter. Meanwhile, sales of second-hand homes could jump by 36 percent to 13,500.

Another agency Centaline Property Hong Kong agreed that transactions of new and pre-owned homes rebounded significantly due to the new policy. Hong Kong’s 115 new residential property projects attracted almost 3,800 transactions from Feb. 28 to March 26, rising by nearly 17 times from a month earlier. Contracts amounted to CNY38.1 billion (USD5.3 billion), a nearly 10-fold increase.

New luxury properties, costing HKD30 million (USD3.8 million) or more, were also in high demand as almost 160 units were sold after the policy was implemented, up by more than seven times from a month ago.

Editor: Emmi Laine