Hong Kong property: In One, Grand Jete post bumper sales as homebuyers rush back after banks held mortgage rates unchanged

MTR Corporation and Chinachem Group sold all 179 flats of their In One project at Ho Man Tin, at an average price of HK$27,083 per square foot
In Tuen Mun, 86 per cent of the 400 flats on offer at the second phase of the Grand Jete project were sold as of 8:30pm

Hong Kong property

Iris Ouyang

Published: 9:25pm, 25 Mar 2023

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Hong Kong’s homebuyers returned to the property market days after the city’s commercial banks opted to keep mortgage rates unchanged.

MTR Corporation and Chinachem Group sold all 179 flats of their In One flats on offer at Ho Man Tin, agents said. The one-bedroom to three-bedroom units were offered at between HK$7.97 million and HK$30.45 million (US$3.9 million), or HK$27,083 per square foot.

Over at Tuen Mun, 86 per cent of the 400 flats on offer at the second phase of the Grand Jete project by CK Asset and Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) were sold as of 8:30pm. Nearly 5,000 people braved a thunderstorm to queue up at the developer’s sales office in Hung Hom to bid for the flats, according to local media reports.

The long queues were a welcomed sight for Hong Kong’s developers and sales agents, as rising interest rates combined with the Covid-19 pandemic to knock the city’s property bull market off its footing. On Thursday, Hong Kong’s commercials agreed in unison to keep their lending rates unchanged, which attracted buyers to return to the market before borrowing costs resumed their upswing.

People queued up for the first phase of the Grand Jete project in Tuen Mun at the sales office of CK Asset Holdings and Sun Hung Kai Properties in Hung Hom on 25 June 2022. Photo: Jonathan Wong

“The sales are ideal,” said Sammy Po Siu-ming, CEO of Midland Realty’s residential division for Hong Kong and Macau. “People are positive about the economic outlook after the border reopening, while [this week’s] rate hikes were in line with expectation.”

Homebuyers are trying to get ahead of the interest rate cycle. Hong Kong’s monetary authority on Thursday raised the city’s base rate by a quarter point, in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve, which warned that the cost of money would continue to increase to rein in runaway inflation in America.

The Grand Jete project under construction in Tuen Mun by CK Asset Holdings and Sun Hung Kai Properties, on 20 June 2022. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

The Grand Jete, located on the western fringe of Hong Kong’s New Territories, comprises 800 apartments in four 20-storey towers divided into two phases. Units on offer ranged from 263 to 722 square feet (67 square metres), selling for between HK$3.07 million and HK$10.36 million, or HK$12,798 per sq ft on average.

“The leftovers [flats] were mainly large and expensive units, such as [those with] three bedrooms, which are harder to sell in the area,” said Louis Chan Wing-kit, Centaline’s vice-chairman and chief executive of residential in Asia-Pacific.

As the “bad news” such as rising interest rates and the Covid-19 pandemic, “which clouded Hong Kong’s real estate market disappeared, the border reopening is the most critical factor” that supports the market, he said.

In One, located above the Ho Man Tin subway station, was billed as a luxury project, with a pricing aimed at bigger budgets. About 80 per cent of the customers were first-time buyers, while 20 per cent were investors who were betting that rents in Hong Kong would rise after the pandemic, said Po.

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