Home buyers in Hong Kong tend to avoid purchasing homes before the Chinese New Year period.
With home buyers shifting their focus towards new discounted units by developers, transactions of second-hand homes in Hong Kong declined over the weekend, reported The Standard.
During the period, there were only five deals in the city’s secondary housing market compared to nine a week before across 10 major housing estates tracked by Midland Realty.
“The new residential projects, such as the second phase of Grand Yoho in Yuen Long and the second phase of One Kai Tak, have attracted the attention of many potential buyers,” said Sammy Po Siu-ming, Midland Realty’s Residential Chief Executive.
He explained that buyers tend to refrain from purchasing homes before Chinese New Year, and sales of previously-occupied homes are forecasted to remain sluggish in the short term due to a shortfall in available supply.
Meanwhile, Centaline Property recorded six transactions over the past weekend versus nine during the previous period.
Besides the small pool of inventory, another reason for the slump in the secondary market is that many potential buyers are opting for new houses given the promos and incentives dangled by residential developers, said Louis Chan Wing-kit, Residential Chief Executive of the property agency.
In the primary market, China Overseas Property launched 125 units last Thursday under the second phase of One Kai Tak, with over 1,000 potential buyers subscribing for the units.
The most sought-after units were the two- to three-bedroom apartments, noted China Overseas Property’s Managing Director Tony Yau Wai-kwong, adding that they may release more units for sale on Tuesday (10 January), and prices might rise due to strong demand.
The sale of One Kai Tak’s Phase II, which comprises 624 units, will start next Saturday at the earliest.
Another developer, Sun Hung Kai Properties, has recorded 645 subscriptions for the 166 flats launched last Tuesday under Grand Yoho’s Phase II, which features a total of 826 apartments.
Separately, Hang Lung Properties has sold 344 flats at The Long Beach to different buyers for a total of HK$3.7 billion (S$685.6 million) since the development was re-launched in early December.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
