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Hong Kong property
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Hong Kong homebuyers ignore rising interest rates as they snap up flats at Sun Hung Kai Properties’ University Hill project in Tai Po

  • Sun Hung Kai Properties sold all 191 flats on offer by 5.30pm on Thursday, hours after HSBC raised its best lending rate by 12.5 basis points to 5.75 per cent
  • The property sale coincided with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s latest rate hike, which took the base rate to a 15-year high

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Homebuyers queue up at Sun Hung Kai Properties’ sales centre on Thursday for a chance to buy flats at the developer’s University Hill project. Photo: Handout
Cheryl Arcibal
Homebuyers turned up in droves and snapped up the second batch of flats at Sun Hung Kai Properties’ University Hill project in Tai Po, New Territories, on Thursday, even after HSBC raised its prime rate within hours of the latest interest-rate hike by Hong Kong’s de facto central bank.
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Hong Kong’s biggest developer sold out all 191 units available by 5.30pm, suggesting that homebuyers have shrugged off rising mortgage loan costs, according to agents.

“The market expects this to be the last round of rate hikes, so buyers are not too worried,” said Louis Chan Wing-kit, CEO of the residential division at Centaline Property Agency. “Also many potential buyers were not able to join the first round of the project’s sale, so they showed up today.”

The flats on offer ranged from 229 sq ft to 640 sq ft, with smallest unit going for HK$3.25 million (US$414,125) and the biggest for HK$11.4 million, after discounts of as much as 15 per cent.

Sun Hung Kai Properties’ University Hill project is coming up in Tai Po. Photo: Handout
Sun Hung Kai Properties’ University Hill project is coming up in Tai Po. Photo: Handout

The second round of sales coincided with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s quarter-point rate hike, which took its base rate to a 15-year high in lockstep with the Federal Reserve’s latest round of policy tightening to curb inflation in the US.

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HSBC, the city’s biggest commercial lender, increased its best lending rate in the city by 12.5 basis points to 5.75 per cent from Friday, a move that was followed by some of its peers, including Bank of East Asia.

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