Weeks of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong are battering the share prices of the city's property developers and pushing its benchmark stock index closer towards a bear market.

Around HK$450bn (£47m) has been wiped off the market value of the nine largest Hong Kong real estate companies since April, according to data from Refinitiv.

The Hang Seng Properties Index, which tracks a bigger pool of real estate developers in Hong Kong, has plunged 19% since its recent peak in April. The broader Hang Seng index has fallen more than 16% during the same period. Both are at risk of falling into a bear market, which is defined as a drop of 20%.

Hong Kong is the most expensive city in the world to buy a home, with local residents and international investors alike paying huge money for small apartments in the financial hub. The market slide began earlier this year because of the impact of the trade war on Hong Kong's economy and China's slowdown, and the city's political turmoil has piled on the pressure. Unsurprisingly, some of Hong Kong's biggest real estate tycoons are now calling for the protests to end.