【明報專訊】ACCORDING TO the latest Rates and Valuation Department figures, private housing prices again rose above record highs last June. They kept rising for a row of three months, in which those of both luxury flats and small flats went up more than 1%. As for flats smaller than 430 square feet in saleable area (which have been the talk of real estate agents in town), their price index (taken to be 100 in 1999) went up 2.5% from 263.9 in January this year to 270.5 in June this year. Small flats are moderately priced and it is relatively easy to get mortgages on them. They therefore appeal to speculators as well as to those who want to "climb aboard" - to become first-time homebuyers.