Hong Kong homebuyers stay away from Friday sale as developers move to clear unsold units amid seven-year low in deals

Name: The ‘hits’ and ‘misses’ of John Lee’s 2023 policy address
Uploaded: 2023-11-03T12:45:23.000Z
Duration: 16 min 1 s
Description: The ‘hits’ and ‘misses’ of John Lee’s 2023 policy address

Buyers snapped up only five of 129 available units on Friday at a Tseung Kwan O project despite 15 per cent discounts

Nevertheless, agents expect more activity in the fourth quarter as developers try to clear ‘leftovers’ and relaxed property cooling measures take effect

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The Villa Garda development in Lohas Park, Tseung Kwan O, pictured on September 30, 2023. Sino Land, K Wah International and China Merchants Land developed the property. Photo: Sun Yeung

Salina Li

Published: 8:45pm, 3 Nov 2023Updated: 9:06pm, 3 Nov 2023

Predictions that the government’s relaxation of certain property cooling measures would have at most a moderate effect on home sales appear accurate, as buyers only snapped up five out of 129 available units at a Tseung Kwan O project on Friday despite 15 per cent discounts.

Villa Garda III, developed by Sino Land, K Wah International and China Merchants Land, has a total of 644 units and is located in the Lohas Park neighbourhood. Since its first sales launch in late August, it has sold 134 flats for HK$1.08 billion (US$138 million), the developers said.

The latest price list has 65 newly launched units with areas ranging from 442 sq ft to 719 sq ft. Prices, after a 15 per cent discount, ranged from HK$7.38 million to HK$12.9 million, for an average of HK$17,165 per square foot.

On Tuesday, a project near Chinese University of Hong Kong sold more than half of its available units, and developers and agents are betting the residential property market will see more activity soon.

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The ‘hits’ and ‘misses’ of John Lee’s 2023 policy address

“I believe together with the new policy, developers will pick up the sales of new homes in order to capture buying power,” said Buggle Lau Ka-fai, chief strategist at Midland Realty. Developers will speed up launching new projects and clearing leftovers in the fourth quarter, he said.

Transactions will become more active in the fourth quarter, and the property market will stabilise or improve, said Victor Lui Ting, deputy managing director at Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP).