A growing number of deals in major housing estates are being done at record prices as owners seek to cash in on a recovery in market sentiment, property agents say.
Although the big-ticket deals are concentrated in the top end of the market - mainly for penthouses or special flats - the signal sent by the transactions would be positive for the overall housing market, they said.
'Owners are cashing in on the market rebound as they are getting offers they cannot resist,' a director of Midland Real Estate, Sammy Po, said.
On Wednesday last week a 1,408 square foot penthouse with a 925 sq ft rooftop in Taikoo Shing sold for HK$24.8 million, or HK$17,614 per sq ft, setting a new record for lump sum and price per sq ft for the estate.
The price broke the previous record set in August last year when a 1,182 sq ft penthouse sold for HK$17.15 million - HK$14,509 a sq ft.
The record-breaking run continued over the weekend, with a 1,180 sq ft penthouse at Kingswood Villas in Tin Shui Wai selling on Saturday for HK$5.88 million, or HK$4,983 sq ft, a level not seen since the market's previous peak in 1997; and a 1,056 sq ft special flat with a 300 sq ft sky garden at Oceania Heights in Tuen Mun selling for a record HK$7.02 million, or HK$6,648 per sq ft, on Sunday.
'Prices of such high-end flats surged to unbelievable levels in the past week,' the head of research at Ricacorp Properties, Patrick Chow, said. 'It is a rare piece of good news for the market, but the longer-term outlook for the general market is still unclear.'