Developers set reduced prices for home units
MIXED results were achieved from release of two batches of units at Sino Group's Classical Gardens development in Tai Po.
The Ng family sold all 24 units available in the first batch in a single day. They dropped the asking price nine per cent to an average of $5,300 a square foot.
In light of this strong response, Sino tried to increase prices by up to three per cent for its second batch of 24 units. Only 14 were sold.
WHEELOCK Properties reduced prices for flats at Parc Oasis in Yau Yat Chuen by 8.2 per cent. It offered 24 units at $7,572 a square foot, down from $8,252 in April.
WITH Sino Group and Wheelock reducing prices, a trend was emerging, analysts said. Developers were trying to meet the prices end-users were prepared to pay.
Analysts expected the price drop for new units to flow on to the secondhand market.
PROPERTY agents and analysts expect office values to fall as much as 20 per cent because of rising interest rates, easing rental growth and fears on China's economy.
THE Government said it would introduce legislation to plug a legal loophole and clarify certainty of title. When the legislation is passed, the registered owner of property will be the legal owner.
SOME 18 units, representing 64 per cent of the latest offering in Hopewell Holdings' Broadview Villa in Happy Valley, were sold on the first day. The average price for the 3,134 sq ft flats was $7,800 a square foot.
HENDERSON Land was reportedly considering reducing by five per cent the prices of remaining units in Sunshine City at Ma On Shan, Sha Tin, to complete sales. The price cut would result in an average price of $4,600 a square foot, the Economic Journal said.
NEARLY two-thirds of the Yuyuan International Shopping Centre in Shanghai have been sold, sales agents say. Hong Kong buyers took 82 per cent of shops sold.
Units were offered at an average of $6,479 a square foot, said a spokesman for L & D, the development's sole sales agent.
The centre will be completed by December 31. The developer, Shanghai Yuyuan Travel Business Quarter, has built the shopping centre in the architectural design of the Ming/Qing dynasty for historical reasons, the spokesman said.
