Holiday sales drive Banyan Garden price rise
Cheung Kong (Holdings) plans to raise prices at its Banyan Garden development in West Kowloon following a warm response to holiday sales.
But the intensity of marketing activity over Lunar New Year suggests developers are still facing fierce competition to lure buyers and clear unsold inventory.
Cheung Kong and Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), among other developers, kept sales offices open during this year's holiday.
More than 10 developers launched more than 20 residential developments over the holiday, with many offering discounts and sweeteners to attract buyers.
Cheung Kong senior sales manager Patrick Ho said the group had sold more than 40 units in three residential projects in the past two days, including 23 at the 1,074-unit first phase of Banyan Garden in Cheung Sha Wan.
Cheung Kong sold 168 flats in Banyan Garden through a public sale late last month.
Mr Ho said prices at Banyan Garden would be raised due to the good response but by how much had yet to be decided.
With more than 5,000 new flats due to come on to the market in West Kowloon, the area is expected to be a battlefield for developers this year.
Despite the heavy supply, Cheung Kong executive director Justin Chiu Kwok-hung said he expected developers to capitalise on 'bargain prices' and add to their land banks this year.
He was confident this would be a better year for government land revenues. The current financial year to March was the second-worst in a decade after 1998-99, when land sales were suspended for nine months because of the Asian financial crisis.
Mr Chiu said that although developers' profit margins were low compared with the boom of five years ago, there was still upside due to falling land prices and construction costs.
An SHKP spokesman said it had sold about 30 units in the past three days, while a Sino Land spokesman said the group had sold about 20 flats in three developments.
