13,000 buyers swamp Tseung Kwan O property project for just 400 flats, despite Hong Kong official warning about market
Eager punters queue up in hopes of landing flat at Wings at Sea, despite Hong Kong Monetary Authority warning against ‘irrational’ purchases
More than 13,000 prospective buyers swamped a Hong Kong property development in Tseung Kwan O on Saturday looking to snap up 400 newly released flats, despite a warning from the city’s Monetary Authority about “irrational” purchases.
Long queues were seen at the International Commerce Centre in West Kowloon, where the sales office for developer Sun Hung Kai Properties’ Wings at Sea project is located. The company kicked off sales for the first phase of the Lohas Park development, east of Kowloon, at 9am.
A total of 13,700 would-be buyers registered for a chance to purchase one of 403 flats, which will be released in three batches. The average price of a property in the development is over HK$14,000 per sq ft, a record for the Lohas Park area.
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“Some parents are helping their children buy properties [so the parents] can avoid the double stamp duty incurred if they were to buy a second property,” said Louis Chan, Asia-Pacific vice-chairman and managing director for residential sales at Hong Kong property agent Centaline. He said he estimated about half of the customers were first-time buyers receiving help from their parents.
“The starter home scheme pledged by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has made buyers hesitate recently,” he said, referring to a coming subsidised housing scheme announced by Hong Kong’s leader that will aim to help young residents get on the property ladder.
“Therefore the response to new projects has become less intense, but it will take three to four years to find land and build these starter homes, so the scheme will not affect the immediate shortage of housing or reduce property prices dramatically for now.”