Is This Time the Same? Housing Market Performance during SARS and COVID-19

This paper examines housing market responses to two outbreaks of respiratory diseases in Hong Kong during the Information Era—the 2003 SARS and COVID-19 outbreaks. The local housing market has withstood both epidemics, and correlated policy measures and collective responses to epidemic events might induce similar real effects in the housing market. However, some economic and social factors that drive the impact of the 2003 SARS outbreak on the housing market might not be applicable to the COVID-19 pandemic. We performed descriptive analyses at aggregate and granular (district and estate) levels. Our findings suggest that the changes in house prices during these two epidemics and the forces underlying them will likely be different.