Hong Kong’s homebuyers greet developers’ attempt to sell leftover residential property with their collective cold shoulder

The biggest sales weekend of residential property in almost five months was met with a collective shrug

A total of 152 flats, or 35 per cent of the 435 units on offer by developers, found buyers

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China Overseas and Investment offering 259 flats for open sale and 123 units for tender at The Regent in Tai Po on 2 November 2019. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 8:42pm, 2 Nov 2019Updated: 12:39pm, 3 Nov 2019

Hong Kong’s biggest sales weekend for residential property in almost five months was met with a collective shrug, as homebuyers mostly ignored the 622 unsold homes left over from previous launches to wait for new projects that are due for release in the coming months.

A total of 152 flats, or 35 per cent of the 435 units offered by five developers, found buyers at 6pm, sales agents said. Another 187 homes were being offered on tender, whose results will only be revealed on Sunday.

“Market sentiment is different [from a year ago], where not selling is the new normal, and the ability to sell is a better-than-expected [outcome],” said CGS-CIMB Securities’ head of Hong Kong and China research Raymond Cheng. The secret behind “previous sales that were successful came down to more reasonable or attractive pricing. If prices are set too aggressively or are higher compared to initial launches, buyers will hesitate,” he said.

A fire started by anti-government protesters on a street in Wan Chai on 2 November 2019. Photo: Felix Wong

The weekend’s dismal sales drew a stark contrast with the sell-out performance reported on Friday by the Grand Ming Group, which sold every one of its 375 flats on offer at The Grand Marine project in Tsing Yi during a fresh launch, a day after several of Hong Kong’s biggest commercial banks cut their lending rates for the first time in 11 years in response to the city’s third cut in interest rates in as many months.

Homebuyers had become more discerning, turning their shoulders on property that were not offered during earlier launches, particularly in areas that had been affected by anti-government protest rallies, agents said.

In Sham Shui Po, the flashpoint of clashes on August 6 between police and radical protesters, CK Asset managed to sell 15 flats, or a mere 13 per cent of the 112 units on offer. In protest-hit Tai Po, China Overseas and Investment sold 98 flats, or 38 per cent of the 259 units on offer. In Shau Kei Wan, the family of the late Lam Woo sold 39 units, or 74 per cent of their One Eighty project.

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