China Evergrande fails to offload leftover units at The Emerald Bay Phase 2 project in Hong Kong
- Developer had sold just seven out of 262 units as of 7pm local time
- Project will, however, be almost sold out by the time it is completed in August next year, Centaline agent says
China Evergrande, the world’s most indebted developer, failed to offload leftover units at its The Emerald Bay Phase 2 project in Hong Kong on Friday.
It had sold just seven out of 262 units as of 7pm local time, which agents attributed to an oversupply of new flats in the district. Several projects, such as New World Development and MTR Corporation’s The Pavilia Farm in Tai Wai, have diverted buyers’ attention.
“The purchasing power [for such flats] has dried up,” Patrick Yu, district sales manager at Centaline Property Agency, said, adding that such small flats were new when the project was first launched in October last year and its first two launches were fully sold out. Projects such as Seacoast Royale and Oma By The Sea, which have been launched since, have soaked up first-time homebuyer demand, Yu said.
Even though Evergrande was able to entice several big-name buyers, such as Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the share sale – priced at a steep discount on the previous close – ended up raising about half the targeted amount.