Investors are drawn to Kowloon's Masterpiece
The straightforward process of investing in property is the main contributing factor which makes pouring money into bricks and mortar popular in Hong Kong.
'People are starting to realise that investing in residential property is less complicated than investing in bonds,' said Andy Ho, director of property agency Midland Realty. 'When a person buys a flat, he only has to rent it out and receive a steady amount of money each month. But bonds and trusts are another story.'
This is one of the reasons why residential property prices at Kowloon West have increased.
Another is the increasing number of mainlanders coming to Hong Kong looking to buy homes.
The loosening of travel restrictions between the mainland and Hong Kong means more mainlanders are coming to Hong Kong, often for holidays. After a while they think about buying an apartment so that they can stay in it while in Hong Kong. And they are mostly looking in the Kowloon West area, according to Ho.
'Mainlanders choose to buy residential properties in Kowloon West because of their harbour views.'
Luxury residential properties there include The Cullinan, The Arch and The Waterfront.
The latest addition to Kowloon is The Masterpiece in Tsim Sha Tsui and it poses strong competition to the other luxury homes, according to Midland Realty.
The major selling point of the property is that all of its apartments have a complete harbour view.
Within a month of putting the apartments on sale, 260 out of 345 were sold. Out of the 345 apartments, 327 are standard and 18 are duplexes.
All the apartments that have been sold are standard, ranging from 816 sqft to 4,088 sqft with one to four bedrooms, at prices from HK$14,000 to HK$30,000 per sqft.
The duplex penthouses, ranging from 2,748 to 5,260 sqft, with three to four bedrooms, went on sale a week ago, but estate agents don't see them being snapped up too quickly.
'The lump sum needed to buy an apartment from 2,748 to 5,260 sqft at prices ranging from HK$40,000 to HK$50,000 per sqft is too large an amount for people to accept,' Ho said.
The Masterpiece has 67 floors including parking, a shopping mall and a hotel.
Parking is on the lowest floors B3 to B4. The shopping mall goes from B2 to the third floor.
The Park Hyatt Hotel takes floors four to 24 with the residential clubhouse sandwiched in between its lobby and hotel rooms, on the 8th and 9th floors.
