CHINESE mainland investors accounted for a smaller percentage of Hong Kong’s new home sales for a second quarter as the nation’s banks tightened lending while local buyers returned to the market, Midland Holdings Ltd. said.

    Mainland purchasers made up 36.8 percent of all new home sales by value in the first quarter, from 37.9 percent in the previous three months, Hong Kong’s biggest publicly traded realtor said in an e-mail Tuesday. The figure reached 53.9 percent in the third quarter last year, Midland said.

    Hong Kong’s home prices have gained almost 80 percent since early 2009 on record low mortgage rates, an undersupply of new units and an influx of mainland buyers.

    “With credit tightening, mainland homebuyers are having more difficulties borrowing to invest,” said Angela Wong, an executive director at Midland in Hong Kong. “There’s also a huge pent-up demand being released among Hong Kong buyers, who have waited on the sideline during the previous six months.”

    (SD-Agencies)