Weekend sales growth fails to lift outlook for secondary home market
Sales of second-hand homes rose over the weekend, but property agents expect a weakening secondary market in view of new launches by developers in the fourth quarter.
Data from Midland Realty shows that 34 second-hand flats were sold in 10 selected housing estates on October 6 and 7, representing an increase of 13.3 per cent compared with the previous weekend.
Centaline Property Agency found in its survey that 33 units were sold at 10 selected estates, up 10 per cent from the preceding weekend.
Louis Chan Wing-kit, managing director of Centaline's housing department, said buying interest was drawn to new property launches.
Wheelock Properties, a subsidiary of Wheelock & Co, said it sold 30 units at Kadoorie Hill on Saturday, generating revenues of HK$1.12 billion.
Sun Hung Kai Properties' deputy managing director Victor Lui Ting said the developer sold 200 units at Century Gateway in Tuen Mun on October 6 and 7, bringing accumulated sales to 900 units and generating revenues of HK$6 billion.
Lui said the company would raise prices by 3 to 4 per cent for the remaining unsold units. Century Gateway has 1,075 units in the first-phase development.
Vincent Chan Kwan-hing, chief executive of the residential department at Midland Holdings, expects home sales in the secondary market to weaken as developers launch their primary projects in the fourth quarter. Midland estimates developers could sell more than 3,300 units from eight new projects this month.
One of the major projects due for release is The Reach, a joint-venture development between New World Development and Henderson Land Development. It has more than 2,500 units.
Hong Kong Property Services (Agency) estimates that Land Registry data for last month will show 6,817 second-hand sales were registered, which reflects the market condition in the previous month. This would represent a 0.4 per cent drop from registrations in August.
But while sales volumes are set to show a modest decline, sales values are estimated to rise 5.4 per cent from August to about HK$31.82 billion.
