Sales of flats at a new development in Tuen Mun flopped on Sunday, as potential buyers grow cautious amid anti-government protests and fresh data showing prices of lived-in homes have fallen. Only 22 units, or 19 per cent of 113 flats put up for sale at Wing Tai Properties’ Oma Oma development in Tuen Mun, sold on Sunday, according to sources. “It is the poorest sales outcome in the past two months ,” said Sammy Po, chief executive of Midland Realty’s residential development. “Buyers are carefully reassessing the outlook of the market as they fear prices will fall further in light of souring sentiment. “Developers probably need to continue adopting the low price strategy if they want to sell fast,” he said. Buyers are becoming more cautious and picky, analysts say. The Oma Oma project, for example, is not close to an MTR stop, whereas sales were brisk last weekend at the Marini development in Lohas Park in Tseung Kwan O, which is located within walking distance of a subway station. The worrying sign at Oma Oma comes on the heels of The Centa-City Leading Index, which tracks 100 housing estates in Hong Kong, showing on Friday that prices for lived-in homes dropped 1.34 per cent for the week ending September 1. Wheelock reports brisk sales of Marini flats as developer shifts property launch to avoid Hong Kong’s protest-filled weekends “It is the sharpest fall in the past 12 weeks,” said Centaline Property Agency senior associate research director Wong Leung-sing said. He attributed the decline mainly to the US-China trade war. It and the protests have weighed heavily on the city’s economy and sentiment about where property prices are headed and how people feel about making expensive purchases. There had been some hope last Wednesday that sentiment could improve. That is when Chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced she would formally withdraw the highly unpopular bill that would allow extraditions to the mainland. That met one of five demands by protesters, including freer elections. Protesters said her move was too little, too late. Some individual homeowners raised their asking prices in response to Lam’s move, but analysts said they do not expect it to boost sales. In fact, developers for the last few weeks have been cutting prices of projects even near MTR subway stations for fear of not being able to sell homes. Hong Kong’s owners raise home prices, hot on the heels of Carrie Lam withdrawing city’s controversial extradition bill The property bull run in Hong Kong resumed in January after a five-month breather. But lived-in home prices began to slip in June, when the proposed extradition bill sparked protests. Property data is not out yet to show how home buying has fared since Lam’s bombshell announcement on Wednesday. However, Wong expects that home sales will stay flat this month. To boost sales, Wing Tai Properties said it will provide a mortgage loan of up to 90 per cent of a flat’s value for homes selling at HK$6 million or more. Buyers will just be required to pay interest in the 728 days after signing the sale-and-purchase agreement, meaning they do not have to pay the principle for slightly more than two years. Its units on sale ranged in size from 316 square feet to 750 square feet, at prices between HK$3.99 million to HK$10.33 million. Wing Tai did not released the details of the Sunday sales result, but earlier said that it had pulled in HK$1.37 billion in sales revenue from the sale of 245 units at the Oma Oma development, which was launched on June 30. Meanwhile, wanting to move quickly in the uncertain climate, Wheelock Properties is speeding up its sales plans at two projects at Lohas Park in Tseung Kwan O, putting up for sale on Wednesday a total of 318 flats. This coming Wednesday, it will put 182 units at the Grand Marini – a joint venture project with MTR Corp. – up for sale at an average price of HK$15,223 per square foot after taking into account a 21.5 per cent offered discount on the listed price. More than 1,100 prospective buyers registered to bid for the 182 units at the project, which is due to be completed in January 2022 with at total 503 flats. At a project next door, named Marini, Wheelock said as of August 30, it had sold 446 units, or 90 per cent of the 500 units on offer, generating HK$3.4 billion. It is due to be completed in November 2021. Also on Wednesday, Wheelock will put up another 136 units for sale at this Marini project.