Hong Kong developers face fresh pressure to sell as completed new units jump 30 per cent in third quarter
- Private flat completion stood at 6,500 in the July-through-September period, up from 5,000 in the previous quarter, the government said.
New flats have been quickly rolling off the Hong Kong assembly line, recording a 30 per cent jump in the completion rate in the July-to-September period, adding pressure on developers to speed up sales ahead of an expected vacancy tax to deter hoarding.
Private flat completion stood at 6,500 for the three months, up from 5,000 in the previous quarter, according to data from the Transport and Housing Bureau released on Friday.
This equates to a total supply of 12,700 new private flats in the first nine months of the year.
“Competition for buyers will further escalate because developers are getting impatient to cash in on their projects as market sentiment continues to sour,” said Derek Chan, head of research at Ricacorp Properties.
This month, as of October 24, 2,009 new flats had been sold. That was 59 per cent higher than the 1,263 deals in all of September, according to data from Midland Realty.
Developers have been scrambling to ink in deals, offering flats at lower prices to try to attract buyers at a time when mortgage rates are rising, the city’s stock market is in the doldrums and the US-China trade war is being felt by large and small businesses.