Discounts, loan offers aim to attract buyers to unsold flats

Developers in Hong Kong are offering incentives such as discounts and attractive mortgage schemes to attract buyers to unsold units, paving the way for the launch of their latest projects, agents said.

Asia Standard International Group would cut the asking price of 12 remaining flats at Jadewater in Aberdeen by 46 per cent to about HK$5,000 per square foot, from more than HK$9,400 per square foot when the project was launched in June last year, executive director Phileas Kwan Po-lam said yesterday.

The company had fewer than 50 units available for sale, Mr Kwan said.

The asking price was in line with prices at the neighbouring eight-year-old Bayshore Apartments, which is selling for between HK$3,894 and HK$7,855 per square foot, while listings at Sham Wan Towers - a five-year-old project in Ap Lei Chau - are at HK$4,673 to HK$7,621 per square foot, data from Centaline Property Agency showed.

Meanwhile, DBS Bank said it would offer 30-year mortgages to help finance the purchase of up to 95 per cent of the flat price.

Borrowers will pay interest at 2.5 percentage points below prime, now at 5.25 per cent, for the first year and 2 percentage points below prime for the remaining period.