A Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) led consortium has had a strong response to its residential project Park Central in Tseung Kwan O with more than 600 units taken in a week. Property agents said the sales tended to confirm the belief that the beleaguered residential market could be close to bottom. This was considered particularly so since the project was not cheap - averaging HK$3,200 per square foot. An estimated 1,800 prospective buyers were registered. There have also been good responses to other large-scale projects launched recently, including Villa by the Park in Yuen Long and Caribbean Coast in Tung Chung. An SHKP official said more than 300 Park Central units were sold during yesterday's public sale. A further 100, mainly 900 sq ft units, were almost fully taken at yesterday's internal sale. Last week 220 units were bought during an internal sale. About 800 units were available in the public and internal sales yesterday. Jointly developed by SHKP, Henderson Land Development, Chinachem Group and Nan Fung Development, Park Central phase one has 1,872 units. It is part of the MTR Corp's Tseung Kwan O Station. Fortune Realty managing director James Tin Kwok-keung said Park Central sales should indicate the property market was bottoming out. There had been movement in the secondary market too, with a growing number of transactions and stable prices. Mr Tin believed the impact from the September 11 attacks in the United States had been eroding, while the low-interest environment had helped push people into buying rather than renting. He expected residential prices to gain 5 per cent within three months. Ricacorp Properties Tseung Kwan O area manager Pinky Lau said about 30 registered prospective buyers had tried to resell their rights to buy units. But only about five transactions were sealed with the resellers' gains less than HK$10,000, she said. 'There is no serious speculation problem here.' Midland Realty executive director Victor Cheung said property sales had shown improvement since last month, with the market showing signs of bottoming out. However, the activity was concentrated in low-end properties and high trading volumes did not translate into an increase in prices. Mr Cheung expected middle to high-end property transactions would pick up this month but without significant price gains. Park Central has surpassed sales of other projects launched after the September 11 attacks, with other popular launches being SHKP's Villa by the Park, with 313 units sold on the first day of its official launch, and Cheung Kong (Holdings') Caribbean Coast. On its first day of sales 200 units were taken up.
