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Potential buyers thronged the sales office of the Cullinan West apartments. Sun Hung Kai Properties, the developer, sold more than 80 per cent of the 309 units on offer on Saturday. Photo: Edward Wong

Exclusive | A family spends HK$200m on nine apartments during Hong Kong’s bumper sales weekend

Three developers offered 1,000 apartments for sale, attracting 23 potential buyers for every single unit, in the strongest display of interest since November 2016.

A family of three buyers spent more than HK$200 million on Saturday to buy nine apartments at Sun Hung Kai Properties’ Cullinan West, the most enthusiastic response during a bumper weekend for Hong Kong developers that registered the strongest buying interest in three months.

Each family member bought three four-bedroom apartments, for a combined shopping bill of more than HK$200 million (US$25.8 million) , according to agents familiar with the transactions. The buyers’ identities and the sizes of their purchases were not immediately available.

Sun Hung Kai offered 309 units of Cullinan West for sale on Saturday, selling out 80 per cent of them by 6:50 pm. Wheelock Properties and Cheung Kong Property also had apartments on the market, for a total offering of 1,000 units.
PPotential buyers visit sales office of Cullinan West at International Commerce Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Edward Wong

The three projects registered 23 prospective buyers on average for every unit available, the most enthusiastic response by customers since November 2016, according to data by the developers.

Buyers thronged sales rooms, taking advantage of the lull before the city’s commercial banks raise their mortgage rates in line with last week’s moves by the US Federal Reserve and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to increase interest rates. Nine additional interest rate increases are to be expected until 2019, the HKMA’s chief executive Norman Chan Tak-lam said on Thursday.

“Sales are good today, as the prices are comparatively cheap for apartments with ocean view,” said Sammy Po, chief executive of Midland Realty’s residential department. “Demand is strong and buyers don’t seem to be worried about interest rates as the pace for increases is quite clear now,”

Wheelock had a good weekend, selling every one of the 480 apartment units at Monterey in Tseung Kwan O, for a total haul of HK$4.18 billion over two days. The developer did so well that it even raised its average price on Saturday by 4 per cent from a day earlier, and plans more sales in future.

On Friday, Cheung Kong’s 188 units of Seanorama in Ma On Shan, also booked robust sales.

The Centa-City Leading Index, which measures transaction prices among 100 housing estates in the secondary market, surged to 149.38 points, setting a record in Hong Kong’s home prices.

Hong Kong’s commercial banks have kept their mortgage rates unchanged this week even after the US and Hong Kong monetary authorities raised key lending rates by 25 basis points.

“The Hong Kong market has digested the impact of the interest rate rise,” said Joseph Tsang, JLL’s managing director and head of capital markets for Hong Kong.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Family splashes out HK$200m on nine flats in bumper sales weekend
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