Hong Kong home buyers snap up large flats at South Land, helping Road King pull off hat trick

The developer sold 120 flats as at 9pm, or 70 per cent of the current batch of 168 units on offer, at its South Land project at the Wong Chuk Hang subway station, the first residential property development atop a public transport terminal in nearly three decades. Investors snapped up all the three-bedroom and four-bedroom apartments, leaving aside the studio units and one-room flats, agents said.

More than 2,000 people had put down money to register their interest to buy, with 13 bids vying for each available flat, putting the developer on track to clear its current batch, after a total haul of HK$9.4 billion (US$1.2 billion) from selling 433 flats over the two previous weekends.

“A lot of people have been waiting for a new property project like this, [situated] on top of an MTR subway station on Hong Kong Island,” said Midland Realty’s residential division chief executive Sammy Po. “Besides attracting many homebuyers who are eying these for their own use, the project has also attracted many investors who [see potential] for these units to appreciate in value.”

The strong sales response over the past month underscores how Hong Kong’s stronger-than-expected economic growth had lifted sentiments. The economy expanded 7.9 per cent in the first three months of the year, according to finalised data on Friday that confirmed the city’s quickest quarterly growth pace in 11 years, beating economists’ forecasts while ending a six-quarter losing streak.

Hong Kong’s home prices benefited from a rising number of vaccinations which helped local authorities keep the Covid-19 pandemic under control. New Covid-19 infections in the city have dwindled down to single digits recently, and social distancing measures have gradually been relaxed.