Property sales in Hong Kong fell 23% last month from September, the first month-on-month decline in seven months, as buyers turned cautious after the sharp price rises of the past few months.

Property agents warned that the downturn in sales was not yet over and predicted that sales of all properties this month would fall to about 9,500 from last month's 11,112 deals and September's 14,437.

Last month's figure, however, better reflected market activity in September because of the four-week time lag between transactions and registrations. Total volume was still 10.3% higher than a year ago.

Total sales value fell 32.21% month on month to HK$45.45bn.

South China Morning Post