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Flat sale results in Hong Kong offer proof that world’s priciest housing market is cooling off

Property agents say market sentiment weighed down by higher mortgage rate, sluggish stock market and US-China trade tensions

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Prospective buyers lining up for the Le Pont flat sale in Cheung Sha Wan. Photo: Edmond So
Yujing Liu

Home buyers in Hong Kong bought just over half of the flats offered by a major Chinese developer at a new site in the city on Saturday despite incentives, in another sign the world’s most expensive property market is cooling off.

Sales agents described the outcome –181 of 310 flats sold – as much worse than expected, despite discounted mortgage rates and cash rebates meant to entice at the launch of Le Pont, a six-tower residential project located in Tuen Mun in the northwestern New Territories.
Buyers snapped up 181 of 310 flats on offer. Photo: Edmond So
Buyers snapped up 181 of 310 flats on offer. Photo: Edmond So
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Vanke Property (Hong Kong), a subsidiary of China’s second-largest developer, developed the site. Vanke is a bellwether of the city’s housing market, which has reached a tipping point after a boom running more than two years. Sentiment has been pulled down by rising mortgage rates and the government’s cooling measures.

“The units would have been all sold if not for the poor market sentiment at the moment,” said Louis Chan, vice-chairman and chief executive of residential division for Asia-Pacific at Centaline Property Agency, one of the firms commissioned for the sale.

The units would have been all sold if not for the poor market sentiment at the moment
Louis Chan, Centaline Property Agency
A combination of factors contributed to the gloomy wait-and-see attitude, Chan believed, including worries about Hong Kong’s economic outlook amid escalating trade tensions between China and the US, higher borrowing costs and a sluggish stock market.
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