Since the horrific fire occurring at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, the maintenance of older residential buildings over 30 years old-now subject to the government-mandated property maintenance scheme, has become a citywide concern. Given current trends, systemic reviews, including the eliminating bid-rigging and other issues are unlikely to be completed within one to two years, thus putting increasing downward pressure on the transaction volume and prices of older residential properties.
Recently, the government ordered the immediate removal of scaffold netting and called off all ongoing maintenance works on 200 
residential buildings under the Building Maintenance Grant Scheme. Currently, there are approximately 28,000 residential buildings over 30 years old in Hong Kong. It is estimated that less than half of these buildings have completed major repairs, meaning around 14,000 residential buildings still require arranging maintenance works in the coming years. At the current rate of completing repairs on 200 buildings per year, it will be impossible to finish all necessary repairs within decades.
Following this tragic fire, residential buildings over 28 years old that have not undergone major repairs will lose all appeal to potential buyers. Previously, buyers of older, unrepaired homes might have paid 2-3% of the property price to cover future maintenance costs. However, the cost now could be a major fire, or even the lives of family members. The risks are too high, and the number of buyers willing to purchase such properties is expected to decrease significantly. A decline in both the price and volume of older secondhand properties is now inevitable.
The problems exposed by this fire are far-reaching, involving issues that have remained unresolved for many years. Solving these complex problems comprehensively in the short term will be extremely difficult. If the problems are not fully resolved, the chance of another accident cannot be eliminated. If such an unfortunate event occurs, a drop in the price of older premises is predictable. Currently, 80% of the ten major housing estates used by real estate agencies to track transaction records are over 30 years old. Whether their prices and sales volume will decline in the future will soon be clear.
