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Hong Kong property
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CK Asset, Sun Hung Kai compete for buyers in Sham Shui Po, in a battle that could set the course for Hong Kong’s property market

  • CK Asset Holdings will start selling the 876-unit Seaside Sonata apartment complex in Sham Shui Po next month
  • Sun Hung Kai Properties will launch the third phase of its 1,172-unit Cullinan West on top of the Nam Cheong subway station, in the same neighbourhood

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Sun Hung Kai Properties’ Cullinan West II at Nam Cheong Station. Photo: Roy Issa
Sandy Li

Two of Hong Kong’s largest property developers will compete head to head next month for buyers, in what will be an important test of the health of the world’s most expensive real estate market.

CK Asset Holdings, founded by the city’s wealthiest man Li Ka-shing, will start selling the 876-unit Seaside Sonata residential project in Sham Shui Po, its first sale in 2019 and a third of the 2,400 apartments on its contract book. Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) will launch the third phase of its 1,172-unit Cullinan West on top of the Nam Cheong subway station in the same neighbourhood.

The upcoming sale by the two bellwether companies – with US$76 billion in combined market value, or a third of Hong Kong’s 16 listed property developers – comes at a critical juncture as the city’s real estate bull market had been hobbled by two months of unprecedented public unrest and a protracted US-China trade war. For CK Asset, the sales launch after a six-month hiatus is also the chance for it to regain the industry crown from SHKP.

“The pricing of the two developers will serve as an important indicator for the market and send an important signal on how the the escalating protests have impacted home prices,” said Alvin Cheung, an associate director at Prudential Brokerage.

Average home price may fall by as much as 10 per cent in the next six to 12 months, according to a forecast by CGS-CIMB Securities’ head of Hong Kong and China property research Raymond Cheng.

“The impact of ongoing weekend protests now spreading into different districts as well as worsening retail sales and fewer tourists arrivals will take a toll in Hong Kong home prices,” he said.

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