Cash no longer king as home buying frenzy hits Hong Kong
Buyers snapped up about 2,300 new flats in the first 11 days of this month, compared with 2,500 in the whole of August
It’s often said that cash is king, but for Hongkongers gripped by a home buying frenzy this month, that would appear to no longer be the case.
Home seekers snapped up 2,300 new units in the first 11 days of September, according to collated figures from property agents, compared with 2,500 flats sold in the primary market in the whole of August. This month’s home sales, worth an estimated HK$19 billion, come despite developers marking up their prices by as much as 20 per cent.
Lured by incentives such as attractive payment plans being offered by developers, buyers pounced on about 1,000 new units last weekend alone.)
People do not want to hold cash now
Henry Mok, a regional director of capital markets at JLL, said the surge in sales was driven largely by “an overall improvement in sentiment” and investors buying up several properties at once.
“People do not want to hold cash now. Some new projects saw their sales dominated by investors buying several units in one go,” he said.
Sales figures show that 37 out of the latest batch of 38 units released at Lime Gala in Shau Kei Wan sold to buyers who purchased two or more units within two hours on Friday.
The Morgan, an uncompleted project at Conduit Road, Mid-Levels, has attracted veteran investors such as the family of Simon Kwok Siu-ming, chairman of Sa Sa International, who forked out HK$72 million for two units. Francis Yuen Tin-fan, a former deputy chairman of PCCW and former chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, paid HK$37 million for a four-bedroom unit.
