Buyers snap up Sun Hung Kai’s St Martin flats in Tai Po, Victoria Harbour units in North Point

Hong Kong’s buyers made quick work of two real estate projects offered for sale by Sun Hung Kai Properties over the weekend, indicating that rising interest rates and the unfolding US-China trade war are doing little to dampen the city’s housing demand.

Sixty four of the 66 units available at St Martin in Tai Po were sold out as of 6pm on Saturday, according to Midland Realty’s residential chief executive Sammy Po, for a total sales value estimated at HK$720 million.

Up to 300 buyers had submitted bids for the apartments, with sizes from 284 square feet to 837 square feet (78 square metres), averaging HK$18,698 (US$2,382) per square foot after discounts.

Separately, more than 80 potential buyers signed up to bid for 30 units of the same developer’s Victoria Harbour apartment in North Point. Thirteen of the units were sold as of 7:20pm, agents said.

Homebuyers are betting that the city’s property prices, which rose for the 26th straight month in June, will continue their upwards spiral even as the government unveiled a slew of measures to cool the feverish demand in the world’s costliest housing market. The government imposed a vacancy tax and handed out subsidies to first-time buyers and low-income households to help them afford owning their homes.

The tax, announced on June 29, is aimed at developers that hoard completed units to speculate on further gains in home prices, and is meant to force property companies to increase supply to meet rising demand.