Prices of luxury homes in New Territories expected to dip as developers rush to offload stock
With more than 1,500 high-end units due for completion by 2020, developers have started offloading some completed projects to avoid being slapped with the vacancy tax
About 1,500 luxury homes will come onto the Hong Kong market in the next couple of years as developers race to avoid a new tax on empty properties, JLL estimates.
Analysts are expecting the price of top-end units, particularly those in the city’s New Territories, to go down as a result.
“Developers have to put their precious long-saved luxury projects on the market in order to avoid the tax. The old practice of holding on and waiting for deep-pocketed buyers to pay higher prices is gone,” said Derek Chan, head of research at Ricacorp Properties.
“Once a lot of developers are selling their projects at the same time in the same neighbourhoods, prices will dip for sure.”
The trend is already visible in the New Territories, where more than half of all new luxury flats due for completion by 2020 will be located, according to data from JLL.
Once a lot of developers are selling their projects at the same time in the same neighbourhoods, prices will dip for sure
In Tuen Mun alone there are more than 100 new houses waiting to be snapped up by ultra-rich buyers.
Wheelock Properties plans to sell 52 units worth more than HK$2 billion (US$250 million) at its Grand Napa project on So Kwun Wat Road. In the same neighbourhood, The Blossomway by Kerry Properties is offering 43 houses for sale, while Peak Castle developed by Emperor Group has put 14 houses on the market.