K&K Property’s one-bed flats in Tuen Mun meet with tepid response as Hong Kong buyers await bigger project launches
- The SkyeH! development appealed mainly to cost-conscious, first-time buyers, according to property agents
- Only half of the batch of 79 flats were sold on Sunday, but property agents remain positive about the market outlook as the economy recovers
A sale of new flats in the west of Hong Kong’s New Territories failed to hit the spot with buyers on Sunday, with only half of the 79 small units available being snapped up.
Older, more experienced buyers with deeper wallets are standing on the sidelines awaiting the launch of bigger new projects, such as Sun Hung Kai Properties’ Wetland Seasons Bay project in Tin Shui Wai next month. That development has 1,996 flats on offer and will be a more accurate gauge of overall demand, the agents said.
Prices at SkyeH! ranged from HK$22,204 to HK$22,530 per square foot, yielding a total cost of between HK$4.5 million and HK$5.4 million per flat.
Based on the developer’s price list published on July 15, the launch price was 11 per cent higher than a nearby project even after K&K property offered a discount of up to 16 per cent at SkyeH!.
A total of 550 registration of interests were received for this, the first round of sales, meaning about seven interested buyers were going after each of the 79 units available.
For the rest of this month, a lack of sizeable project launches will probably lead to a drop in new unit transactions, some property agents have said.
Centaline Property expects about 1,800 units to have changed hands by the end of this month, totalling HK$25 billion. That would represent monthly declines of 6.7 per cent and 16.4 per cent respectively.
“Both new and used home transactions have declined in July as property prices have trended higher,” said Louis Chan, vice-chairman and chief executive (residential), Asia Pacific, at Centaline Property.
Hong Kong’s second-hand home prices dipped by 0.5 per cent to 186.89 in the week ending July 18, according to the Centa-City Leading Index, which tracks transactions in 100 housing estates across the city. The current level is only 1.9 per cent off the June 2019 peak of 190.48.
