Record-breaking sale of HK$10 million subsidised flat prompts calls for further public housing restrictions in Hong Kong
Three-bedroom property in Mong Kok was bought for almost six times the original 1998 price
Hong Kong’s subsidised housing market is setting fresh records, with a government-built flat being sold for more than HK$10 million (US$1.27 million), despite new measures aimed at taming runaway property prices.
At the same time, market watchers are looking for signs of a tipping point after major developer Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) put flats at one its latest projects on sale at the cheapest prices so far this year.
A three-bedroom, 592 sq ft flat at Charming Garden estate, a Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) project in Mong Kok, sold last week for HK$10.65 million, or HK$17,990 per square foot, according to property agency Centaline’s data on Wednesday.
It was almost six times the original HK$1.82 million the owner reportedly bought the flat for in 1998.
It also marked the first time an HOS flat was sold for over HK$10 million, but it did not break the price record per square foot. That milestone was set by a 211 sq ft flat in Ho Man Tin, which was sold for HK$18,863 per square foot earlier this month.
“Such out-of-control prices only go to show that the government has missed the mark with its housing policies,” lawmaker Wilson Or Chong-shing said.
