591 City Point flats in Tsuen Wan snapped up in a day
Buoyant sales show things are looking up under revised stamp duty, agents say
Property sales throughout the city are likely to be boosted after the entire first batch of flats at Cheung Kong's City Point in Tsuen Wan sold in a day, real estate agents involved in the transactions say.
The developer sold the 591 flats in the 1,717-unit project in under seven hours, the agents said. The second batch, of 354 flats, would be released this week, Cheung Kong said last night.
"It attracted upgraders back to the property market as the asking prices were reasonable and the government has recently extended the qualifying period for exemption from double stamp duty," Midland Realty chief executive Sammy Po Siu-ming said. "Upgraders have not been active since the government announced cooling measures in February last year."
More than 13,500 people registered to buy flats at City Point last week, the highest for a new project in 12 years.
Last year, the government doubled the stamp duty payable on property purchases, but with an exemption for permanent residents who sign a provisional contract to buy a flat within six months of selling the only flat they owned. It recently proposed widening the exemption.
Cheung Kong executive director Justin Chiu Kwok-hung said: "The amendment helps upgraders to buy flats. We found we had mostly upgraders buying at this project."