Micro flats go on sale at The Astro in Hong Kong’s Cheung Sha Wan to strong demand

Buyers flocked to four new residential developments in Hong Kong on Saturday as micro flats went on sale to strong demand in Cheung Sha Wan.

The Astro released its first batch of 50 flats measuring between 173 and 338 sq ft, while developer Sun Hung Kai Properties released 12 flats out of a total of 79 at Babington Hill in Mid-Levels West. 

The homes at Babington Hill went for an average price of HK$32,000 per square foot and measured between 600 and 742 sq ft, most with two bedrooms. Ten were sold but despite enthusiastic bidding from both home buyers and investors, two of the smallest flats on offer, measuring about 500 sq ft, remained available on Saturday night.

“In that district residential property generally measures between 700 and 1,000 sq ft ... The two unsold flats indicate this group of buyers were searching for bigger places,” said Ken Chung, sales director at property agent Ricacorp.

Realtors expected Sun Hung Kai to continue to make small numbers of flats from the project available over the coming weeks.

Among the four developments releasing new flats on Saturday, the average selling price per square foot was highest at Babington Hill, due to its central location on Hong Kong Island. 

The Astro in Cheung Sha Wan saw 50 micro flats sell for a lower than average per square foot price relative to the market. The project features a total of 104 units built by private developer Astro Far East. 

Property agents said demand for micro flats remained robust in Hong Kong. The starting price for a flat at The Astro was HK$3.33 million. The 50 flats sold on Saturday went for between HK$18,000 and HK$23,000 per square foot. 

“On average, buyers are willing to take flats at an average price of around HK$20,000 per square foot. We have seen robust demand at that price level in recent years, even for micro flats,” Chung said. 

With a saleable area generally below 200 sq ft, micro flats cater mostly to young single buyers. 

Elsewhere, another Sun Hung Kai Properties development, St Barths in Ma On Shan, began a third round of sales, with 33 flats going for between HK$17,000 and HK$22,000 per square foot, agents said. 

That added to the 108 and 118 flats sold in two previous rounds. 

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Meanwhile, 84 flats at Wheelock Properties’ Grand Oasis Kai Tak were also sold. They raked in an average of HK$24,000 per square foot. 

Sammy Po, residential department chief executive at Midland Realty, said property transaction activity traditionally picked up briefly after Lunar New Year. But a robust number of property sales in January indicated some buyers anticipated price increases coming after the festival this year.

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Data from Ricacorp Properties showed the number of transactions of new residential units last year hit 19,481, with a total value of HK$244.98 billion. Those numbers were up 8.7 per cent and 27.1 per cent respectively on 2016.