HONG KONG - Hong Kong's monthly home prices rose 0.4 percent in July for a fourth successive month in accelerated growth, government data showed on Wednesday, supported by warming sentiment on lower mortgage rates and better stock market performance.

Private home prices edged up 0.4 percent in July over June, following a climb of 0.03 percent each in May and June, data from the Rating and Valuation Department showed. July's rise was the fourth month in a row.

Prices had dropped 0.4 percent this year.

Home prices in Hong Kong have tumbled nearly 30 percent from a 2021 peak.

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Authorities tried to prop up the sector last year, removing curbs on property purchases and relaxing ratios on down payments, but housing demand has kept soft.

The one-month Hong Kong dollar interbank rate HIBOR, to which many mortgage plans are linked, rebounded to 2.8 percent in mid-August after having dropped below 1.2 percent since May, from more than 3.5 percent in the past two years, which had made mortgages more affordable.

Property developers have been selling new flats at discount to boost sales, suppressing the secondhand market, which the official price index reflects.

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Realtors forecast home prices in 2025 could rise or fall by 5 percent, depending on the pace of official rate cuts。

Brokerages including Morgan Stanley and HSBC recently said they expected the Hong Kong residential market to bottom out.

"Signs of a bottom-out in residential prices are becoming more evident," said Eddie Kwok, executive director of property consultancy CBRE Hong Kong.