Homebuyers pile into new flats, as low rates spur them to shrug aside concerns of Hong Kong’s fourth wave of Covid-19 infections
- Minmetals Land sold 246 of 279 Montego Bay flats in Yau Tong as of 9.30pm, agents said
- Sun Hung Kai Properties sold 52 of 78 Cullinan West III flats in Nam Cheong
Hong Kong’s homebuyers shrugged aside concerns of a fourth wave of coronavirus infections in the city to snap up new property over the weekend, confident in their belief that mortgage rates would remain low in the near future.
Minmetals Land, the property subsidiary of one of China’s largest metallurgical producers, sold 246 of the first 279 units on offer at its Montego Bay project in Yau Tong as of 9:30pm, with as many as 17 buyers bidding for every available flat, agents said.
At Nam Cheong, Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) found buyers for 52 of the 78 leftover apartments at its Cullinan West III project, agents said. On Friday, Henderson Land Development sold 65 of the first batch of 68 flats at its Arbour project in Tsim Sha Tsui.
“Homebuyers are not too concerned about the fourth wave of Covid-19, especially when new property projects are launched,” said Midland Realty’s chief executive of the residential division Sammy Po Siu-ming, pointing out that developers are offering discounts to help them sell. “The Montego Bay flats [are priced] at a reasonable level. There also remains a lot of demand for new flats. There is a lot of capital flowing in the markets and interest rates remain low, so prospective buyers will continue to enter the market.”
The weekend sale, Hong Kong’s first since Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor delivered her fourth annual policy address, underscores how the city’s fragile confidence is adjusting to its worst economic recession and a flood of cheap capital emanating from global central banks. The government abolished a double stamp duty for commercial property, a move that is likely to stimulate acquisitions and economic activity, with the potential to spill over to the residential segment and boost home sales, agents said.
The policy relaxation for non-residential property “would help spur economic recovery and indirectly benefit the residential market,” said Centaline’s vice-chairman and Asia-Pacific residential department chief executive Louis Chan Wing-kit.