Four hours at SHK’s sell-out flats show developers they can keep Hong Kong’s home prices high

Four hours. That’s all it took for Sun Hung Kai Properties to sell all but one of the 45 units at its Victoria Harbour apartment project in North Point on Sunday for a total sales value estimated at HK$600 million (US$76 million).

A corporate buyer, who remains unidentified, even put down HK$87.5 million for six units - including two studios - at the five-tower complex, according to sales agents.

Combined with sold-out responses at two other projects a day earlier, this past weekend was a success for Hong Kong’s developers, as buyers braved a tropical downpour to snap up 96 per cent of the 325 units - ranging from 201-sq ft (18.7 metres) studio units to luxury apartments of 524 sq ft - on offer in three of the city’s neighbourhoods.

“Buyers are fearful that home prices will increase further tomorrow, if they don’t buy today,” said Colliers International’s deputy managing director Vincent Cheung Kiu-cho.

The overwhelming response for Sun Hung Kai and Far East Consortium signals to other developers that housing demand in the world’s costliest residential market remains strong enough for them to justify raising prices. It also underscores the challenges faced by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor as she tackles Hong Kong’s property bubble to make housing affordable to first-time buyers.

Median home prices have risen for 26 consecutive months in the city, showing no signs of slowing. Prices, which increased 14 per cent last year, may rise by another 10 per cent to 15 per cent in 2018, agents said.