Hong Kong’s Sun Hung Kai prices Yoho West flats at 6-year low, readies for biggest weekend of property sales since July 2022
- 350 flats at residential project jointly developed with MTR Corp go on sale this weekend
- Not difficult to see all flats being snapped up on Saturday, Midland Realty’s Sammy Po says
Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), Hong Kong’s largest property developer by market capitalisation, will on Saturday launch its biggest weekend sales since July 2022 for a new project in Tin Shui Wai.
About 350 flats at Yoho West – a huge residential project jointly developed by SHKP and MTR Corp – will be put on sale this weekend. The flats on sale will be drawn from three price lists SHKP has released for a total of 613 flats.
The first batch of units has been priced at an average of HK$10,888 (US$1,395.5) per square foot after discounts – a six-year low for new homes.
A second batch of 163 units has been priced at HK$11,633 per square foot on average after discounts, while the third batch of 170 units has been priced at HK$12,437 per square foot after discounts.
Property agents are optimistic about the sale despite a sluggish property market.
“It is not difficult to see all flats being snapped up on Saturday,” said Sammy Po Siu-ming, CEO of Midland Realty’s residential division for Hong Kong and Macau. About 15,000 prospective buyers have written cheques to vie for the 350 flats on offer, he added.
Yoho West will be profitable despite the current discounts because of an estimated gross margin of 30 per cent, Cheng said. SHKP’s sales in Hong Kong are expected to reach around HK$30 billion to HK$35 billion for the whole financial year, with Yoho West accounting for less than 10 per cent of its overall sales, he added.
The project is attractive as its cheapest flats have been priced at about a 20 per cent discount compared to the first batch of the third phase of SHKP’s Wetland Seasons Bay project, also in Tin Shui Wai, said Midland Realty’s Po. Flats at Wetland Seasons Bay launched in September 2022 were offered at HK$14,344 per square foot.
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Yoho West’s discounted selling price ranges from HK$2.99 million to HK$10.9 million, or HK$10,000 to HK$16,701 per square foot, after discount.
Hong Kong home builders are speeding up sales amid downward pressure on home prices, as well as a low number of transactions.
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The Rating and Valuation Department’s gauge of lived-in home prices slumped to 321.4 – only a whisker higher than the 321.2 recorded in March 2017 – from 328.5 in September, according to the latest data, released on Tuesday.
The primary market recorded a total of 362 transactions in October, a 32 per cent increase from the 274 cases in September, which was this year’s lowest total, according to Midland Realty. But October’s tally was far below that of March, which recorded 2,100 transactions.
However, Victor Lui Ting, SHKP’s deputy managing director, said he remains positive as the negative factors in the market have begun to recede and the positive factors are gradually strengthening.
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In the past two years, there have been only around 10,000 first-hand transactions, which is on the low side, and lower than the overall average figure in the past, Lui said. “This shows that the market has stored up a huge amount of purchasing power, waiting for attractive properties, and it is believed that property prices will return to the upwards trend next year,” he added.
