Henderson raises Conduit Rd flat price by HK$33 million in fortnight

Hong Kong’s major developers are cashing in on the seemingly insatiable demand for the city’s residential property, aggressively raising the prices of apartments in their new projects.

Henderson Land Development, Cheung Kong Property Holdings and Sun Hung Kai Properties have all ramped up their prices in the past few days despite the government’s best efforts to cool the market.

The most eye-watering increase was for a Mid-Levels flat whose sale price shot up by HK$33 million (US$4.25 million) in the space of just a fortnight.

The four-bedroom, 3,060-square-foot unit is on the 40th floor of 39 Conduit Road, Henderson’s super-deluxe residential development on the Mid-Levels. The developer, owned by tycoon Lee Shau-kee, raised prices for the remaining units by 15 per cent on Thursday.

The offer price for the 40th-floor flat went up to HK$255.92 million, or HK$83,633 per square foot, from HK$222.84 million, or HK$72,824 per square foot, just two weeks ago.

On the same day, CK Property increased the price of the second batch of 76 units at Harbour Glory in North Point by as much as 8.9 per cent from three days earlier.

A 1,595 sq ft unit on the 25th floor of Tower One is being offered at HK$105.98 million, or HK$66,447 per square foot, about HK$9 million more than a flat of the same size on the 20th floor released on Monday.

But the price of the unit on the 25th floor will come down to HK$69.94 million, or HK$43,900 per square foot, after factoring in a 34 per cent discount.

“Today, making home purchases may require the joint effort of three generations in a family as property prices soar to sky high,” said Vincent Cheung Kiu-cho, executive director of valuation and advisory services for Asia at Colliers International.

He said grandparents and parents who had their mortgages fully paid would need to refinance their apartments to help the third generation pay the initial deposit when they came to buy flats.

“The widespread price increases may invite the government to take action to contain home prices. But the previous stamp duties have failed to cool the market. The government has to work out new curbs to rein in the runaway prices,” he said.

Prices at SHKP’s Cullinan West complex atop the Nam Cheong MTR Station in Kowloon have jumped 39 per cent to HK$26,382 per square foot since their launch in mid-March.
Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said on Wednesday that the government would take action against those buying multiple properties in one go to avoid paying stamp duty if the practice became a general trend.

Escalated prices in the primary residential market had spilled over to the secondary market, agents said.

A 183 sq ft unit at CK Property’s Mont Vert in Fanling was resold for HK$3.3 million, or HK$18,232 per square foot, a new record for the housing estate, according to Ricacorp Properties. The vendor reaped a net profit of HK$1.33 million from the sale.