DISCOVERY BAY'S once red-hot market for golf carts has cooled considerably, thanks mostly to diminished demand from the community's estate agents.
As recently as November, a newish golf cart could fetch $500,000 on the secondary market. Now, the asking price has dropped to $300,000, but there have been no new-cart transactions.
According to Patrick Yiu, assistant sales supervisor at Centaline Property Agency's Discovery Bay branch, the last deal tipped the scales at a mere $160,000.
That was three weeks ago, and the cart was about six years old. At the market's peak, even an old cart such as that could have demanded a price of $300,000.
Rental fees have also dropped, to about $3,000 per month from $5,000 when estate agents kept a fleet of 80 to 100 carts putt-putting around Disco's six kilometres of roads. Now, Mr Yiu said, the community's 20 or so agencies needed only 40 to 60 carts.
Carts are strictly regulated in the planned residential community, where private cars are banned. Only about 8 per cent of Disco's approximately 6,000 families have them.