Hong Kong’s property transactions came close to a three-year high in April, with 9,880 units changing hands according to official data, as the removal of cooling measures continued to boost demand.
The number of Hongkongers with negative-equity loans stood at 32,073 in the first quarter of the year, tripling from the previous quarter and the most since some 40,000 cases were recorded in the first quarter of 2004.
Hongkongers are less willing to buy homes amid price increases at new launches by developers, analysts said after Great Eagle Holdings announced a new higher price list for another 150 units at its Onmantin project on Monday.
Austrian crystal maker Swarovski has launched a lab-grown diamonds collection in China, in a sign that it has confidence in its second-largest market by sales despite some economic turbulence.
All 260 flats on offer at Onmantin were already on Saturday after the project received 7,500 orders from prospective buyers.
Adriel Chan, 41, succeeds his father Ronnie Chan as chairman of Hang Lung Group, one of Hong Kong’s biggest commercial landlords.
The first 18 office units have been priced from HK$7.2 million to HK$22.7 million, or around HK$12,000 to HK$14,000 per square foot, NWD said in a statement on Thursday.
Hang Lung Properties is targeting discerning Chinese consumers’ penchant for luxury goods as it prepares to undertake the expansion of its flagship mall in Shanghai.
Hong Kong developers are pricing new flats at a deeper discount as the property market attempts to rebound from a multi-year slump. Great Eagle is joining the fray with discounts at its project in Ho Man Tin.
Debt-laden property developer Times China Holdings is faced with a winding-up petition as it becomes the latest property company creditors are seeking to liquidate.
Even in the absence of the buying restrictions, a healthy supply and elevated interest rates mean the city’s infamously expensive house prices are unlikely to return to the kind of breakneck growth seen in the past, analysts say.
The third price list covers 174 units and is 1.73 per cent higher than the first price list. CK Asset released the first price list for 138 units last Friday and a second one for 110 units last Saturday.
Second price list for Wong Chuk Hang project includes two- and three-bedroom flats priced from HK$9.05 million (US$1.16 million) to HK$24.7 million.
The developer has priced its closely-watched new project in Wong Chuk Hang well below cost and cheaper than neighbouring developments in a sign it may be trying to ensure the first batch of flats sells out in the hopes of drumming up interest in the remaining units.
Mainland Chinese buyers are aggressively snapping up new luxury homes worth HK$30 million or more since the removal of all of Hong Kong’s property curbs last month, JLL says.
Wang On Properties will be launching the most new projects since it was listed eight years ago, CEO Nick Tang Ho-hong says. Policy support and potential rate cuts later this year will lift home and rental prices.
New home sales in Hong Kong stuttered slightly on Friday, with buyers giving a lukewarm response to Henderson Land Development’s latest project in Tai Kok Tsui.
Gaw Capital Partners, one of Hong Kong’s biggest real estate private-fund management firms, is focusing on logistics in Vietnam and Mexico, as well as the AI sector bailing out distressed office assets in the US, amid challenges to an economic recovery in mainland China.
Hong Kong developer Wheelock Properties has priced a first batch of 130 units at its Seasons Place residential project in Tseung Kwan O at a five-year low for the district.
The market will be keen to see how it prices its new project in Wong Chuk Hang, as this could give ‘direction’ to Hong Kong’s recovering housing sector, analysts said.
Homebuyers flocked to a second round of sales at Henderson Land Development’s Belgravia Place project on Thursday amid expectations that first-hand sales are likely to hit a 40-month high in March.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has advised banks to take extra care when lending to property speculators, in an indirect attempt to clamp down on asset flipping a week after the city abandoned decade-old curbs for the real estate industry.
The removal of all property sector cooling curbs in Hong Kong has sparked immediate interest among mainland Chinese buyers, who still perceive real estate in the city as a lucrative investment option, industry insiders said.
US electronic payment platform operator PayCargo is teaming up with local firm Autotoll to offer its solution to the logistics industry, banking on Asia’s biggest air cargo hub to expand its footprint.
All 138 units available in the first round of sale were bought by 3.30pm, within four hours of the launch. The sale attracted 4,400 expressions of interest, or more than 30 buyers for each available unit.
Receivers are seeking bids for 10E on Black’s Link, a three-storey detached house on The Peak linked to Hui Ka-yan, whose flagship Evergrande Group was forced into liquidation by a Hong Kong court in January.
NWD plans to launch 2,500 units ahead of schedule to capture the improved sentiment unleashed by the withdrawal of all property curbs in Hong Kong after posting a profit decline for the six months ending on December 31.
Hong Kong has scrapped all its decade-old property market curbs in a drastic bid to revive the ailing sector, but analysts say these measures are unlikely to trigger a rebound in prices.
Companies should focus on increasing their integration with multiple sectors to enhance their ability to serve the real economy, industry experts said at a summit.
Secondary market transactions in Hong Kong flats jumped last week, as buyers took advantage of seven-year low prices, before a possible further relaxation of property cooling measures.
