Developer price cuts entice buyers into HK$20b spending spree

Major developers have raised more than HK$20 billion from home sales in three months after engaging in an intensified price war with the launch of new projects.

Sino Land and Nan Fung Development said their projects pulled in a combined HK$14.5 billion in sales revenue since November last year after they offered discounts of up to 20 per cent on secondary market prices, while Henderson Land Development announced on Tuesday that a joint-venture development had generated sales of HK$420 million.

Sino Land associate director Victor Tin Sio-un said the company had sold 1,002 units at its joint-venture development Avenue in Wan Chai since it was launched in November. "We have raised more than HK$10 billion from the sales," he said.

Units at the Avenue, a joint venture with Hopewell and the Urban Renewal Authority, were offered at HK$18,771 per square foot, about 20 per cent below second-hand prices in the area.

Tin said more than 90 per cent of buyers opted for cash payment in order to enjoy a discount of 17.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, Nan Fung said it generated HK$4.5 billion from sales at two projects since November.

Chung Chi-lam, a general manager of the developer's property department, said it sold 765 units at the Visionary in Tung Chung, with the most expensive one selling for HK$21.05 million, or HK$15,036 per square foot.

It also sold 28 units at its Winfield luxury residential project in Happy Valley for HK$1.3 billion after it was relaunched last month with discounts of up to 21 per cent.

Chung said the highest transaction price at Winfield translated into HK$43,121 per square foot.

Henderson said it had sold 48 units for HK$420 million at its joint-venture Double Cove development in Ma On Shan after cutting prices by 10 per cent on Tuesday.

It sold 763 units at Double Cove, a joint venture also involving New World and the privately run Peterson Group, for a total of HK$5.42 billion since it was launched in September 2012.

Separately, Swire Properties leased a 5,188 sq ft unit with a garden at Opus near the Peak for HK$800,000 a month, 6 per cent less than the previous lease.