Mainland Chinese buyers expected to flock to luxury Hong Kong housing now that Shanghai’s lockdown is over, developer says
- Wheelock Properties expects to launch luxury project 1 Plantation Road in the third or fourth quarter to capitalise on renewed demand
- The lifting of Shanghai’s lockdown might have sped up some buyers’ decisions to buy homes in Hong Kong, firm’s managing director says
The Hong Kong developer expects to launch 1 Plantation Road, a new 20-house luxury project on The Peak as its sales agent in the third or fourth quarter of this year, depending on construction progress, said Ricky Wong, the firm’s managing director.
“I believe that since the lockdown has been lifted, [mainland buyers] will consider returning to Hong Kong in the short term,” he said. “Comparatively, the pandemic situation in Hong Kong is less urgent or severe. Many wealthy and powerful people on the mainland are also considering buying second homes. Many mainlanders have businesses in both Hong Kong and mainland cities. Some of them are considering moving their home bases to Hong Kong from China,” he added.
The appetite for Hong Kong’s luxury homes is returning. For instance, inquiries for homes at Mount Nicholson and 77/79 Peak Road have risen by 20 to 30 per cent in the past month, recovering to levels seen before Hong Kong’s fifth wave of Covid-19 infections hit, and the number was high considering the values of the properties in question, according to Wong.
The higher interest came as infection numbers in Shanghai plunged, and amid expectations that the city’s lockdown would be lifted on June 1.
“Hong Kong’s social distancing measures are less strict,” Wong said. “Hong Kong is relatively safe. You see that this time [Shanghai] has been locked down for a long time, it really has a special [impact] on their daily lives and businesses.”