Prices in the secondary market declined 0.49 per cent last month, according to an index published by the Rating and Valuation Department on Monday, following a 0.56 per cent setback in February. The index has retreated a cumulative 1.7 per cent for the quarter to the level last seen in July 2016.

Since the city’s housing market peaked in September 2021, prices of lived-in homes have slumped by 28.6 per cent as social unrest and the Covid-19 pandemic sent the local economy into a recession. US President Donald Trump delivered his tariff blows on April 2, after threatening to do so since his inauguration in January.

“Potential buyers took a wait-and-see approach,” said Eddie Kwok, executive director, valuation and advisory services, at CBRE Hong Kong. Home prices were likely to dip further in the coming months, with the US and China still locked in worsening trade tensions, he added.

Meanwhile, rents in the city rose for the fourth straight month in March to the highest level since October, according to government data. Rents climbed 0.1 per cent from a month earlier, and have risen by a cumulative 0.4 per cent since the start of the year.

Buyers were putting off home-buying plans in favour of renting, Kwok said, given the heightened trade tensions and doubts about future global interest-rate cuts.

“Going forward, we see residential rents picking up as the city welcomes more immigrants, especially during the summer period with non-local students preparing for the next academic year,” he added.