Quiet low-rise area draws buyers
In a tranquil setting in urban Kowloon, low-rise apartments and houses at Yau Yat Chuen are always popular with homebuyers, especially families looking for more space and comfort.
Bob Chan Siu-fan, associate for the Kowloon residential division at Savills, says Yau Yat Chuen has been long established as a high-end residential area with a selection of luxury homes.
'It is an attractive place to live and a relatively quiet neighbourhood. There is a good mix of residents including retirees. You will find university professors living there as City University is within the district,' he says.
'Kowloon Tong MTR station and Festival Walk shopping mall are also very near.'
Yau Yat Chuen has been subject to strict building-height restrictions, making it one of the few low-rise areas of central Kowloon. With its low-density living environment, the area has some of the most exclusive and expensive properties in Kowloon.
The low-rise luxury homes are mainly along Tat Chee Avenue, the main artery, and on a grid of small streets. The two biggest projects are Parc Oasis, built in the 1990s, and Village Gardens, completed in the 1980s.
A three-bedroom apartment in Fairview House on 6 Peony Road is for sale. The 1,550 sqft ground-floor flat comes with a garden of about 400 sqft and has an asking price of HK$18.5 million, or about HK$11,935 per square foot.
Chan says Fairview House is on an inner street along Tat Chee Avenue. The project has eight apartments, all of similar size and enjoying a high level of privacy.
'Luxury homes in Yau Yat Chuen always draw buyers. But it has been rare to see the sale of a flat in Fairview House because of the limited stock in the building. This makes the apartment up for grabs especially attractive,' he says.
According to Savills, the last transaction involving a Fairview House apartment was in April 2007 when a unit on the third floor went for HK$16.5 million. A 1,308 sqft flat in nearby Marigold Gardens was sold for HK$12.8 million early this year.
Chan says luxury home prices in Yau Yat Chuen continue to rise as a result of underlying demand and positive market sentiment.
A 956 sqft apartment in Village Gardens was recently sold for HK$11.3 million, rounding up to HK$11,820 per square foot.
Prices of luxury flats in Parc Oasis are about HK$9,000 to HK$10,000 per square foot, Chan says.
According to Land Registry records, a 1,750 sqft apartment in Merlin Court, within the neighbourhood, was sold for HK$17 million last month, while a 1,181 sqft unit in Grandeur Villa changed hands for HK$9.63 million.