Hong Kong’s building boom in tiny flats fizzles out as T-Plus in Tuen Mun gets the cold shoulder
- The tiniest (128 square feet) of the nano flats at T-Plus in Tuen Mun is smaller than a standard Hong Kong car-parking space, but costs HK$2.85 million
- The sales launch closed early after only two of the 73 units on offer were sold, agents said
Speculative demand over Hong Kong’s shoebox flats – each smaller than the size of a standard car parking space – appears to be over as quickly as it sprouted, following the decline in the city’s median home price.
Agents managed to sell only two of the 73 units on offer at the T-Plus project in Tuen Mun, each at around 130 square feet (12 square metres), with a price tag starting at HK$2.85 million (US$364,600), prompting the developer to close the sales launch early.
Today’s sales result was “the worst in recent times,” said Sammy Po Siu-ming, chief executive of the residential division at Midland Realty.
What a difference nine months make. As recently as March, micro apartments were all the rage in Hong Kong.
At least 2,100 micro apartments are expected to be completed in Hong Kong between 2017 and 2020, or 510 units every year, five times the annual pace between 2014 and 2016, according to a forecast by JLL in March.
“Price cuts in the secondary market of 15 to 20 per cent could eventually inspire similar discounts in the primary market,” said Moody’s vice-president and senior analyst Stephanie Lau.
T-Plus would be the first to witness the end of the boom in micro apartments. The smallest unit at the project has a net area of 128 sq ft, costing HK$2.85 million. That was considered the cheapest, affordable new home in Hong Kong. In Yuen Long, Sun Hung Kai’s Twin Regency is selling a 299 sq ft flat for the same price.
“The pricing of T-Plus is close to the market, but consumers are not looking for homes priced below that level,” said Po, adding that a change in mentality has resulted in lacklustre sales in property market these days.