Share
HONG KONG: For many young couples, the dream of owning a new one-bedroom flat in an urban area appears to be growing more distant than ever — even though the government has warned it would impose more measures to rein in soaring prices if necessary.
In a sobering reality check for buyers hoping that prices may be heading down, developers Sun Hung Kai Properties and Chinachem have launched their latest residential projects at record prices.
SHKP released the first batch of 20 units at its 117-unit i.UniQ Residence in Shau Kei Wan on Thursday, May 26 at an average of HK$13,388 (RM5,235.15) per square foot, the highest price posted to date in the district.
Flat sizes range from 398 sq ft to 662 sq ft.
The cheapest of the flats on offer is a 398 sq ft one-bedroom apartment with a price-tag of HK$5.19 million.
That translates into HK$13,040 per sq ft, but excluding common areas, the saleable area of the flat is just 319 sq ft, with the price working out at an adjusted HK$17,475.
SHKP said on Tuesday that sales of all the rest of the flats in the development had opened at 4pm.
Chinachem released the first batch of 32 flats at its 88-unit Residence 228 in Sham Shui Po at an average price of HK$8,378 per sq ft.
A 445 sq ft flat will cost at least HK$3.54 million, or HK$7,962 per sq ft. Excluding the common areas, the saleable area is 325 sq ft, or HK$10,902 sq ft.
It said eight flats had been sold since opening the project for sale on Saturday, ranging in size from 445 sq ft to 605 sq ft.
David Ng, the head of regional property research at the Royal Bank of Scotland in Hong Kong, said that he found it difficult to believe that the asking prices for new apartments showed no sign of easing, even though signals of a market peak having been reached were becoming clear.
"These signals are declining transaction volumes, escalating prices that have compressed investment yields, rising interest rates, and prospects of more land supply to be released for government land auction," he said.
Secondary market sales, meanwhile, fell 25% last week, with 266 deals done in the 50 major housing estates monitored by estate agency Ricacorp Properties. But the Centa-City Leading Index of prices was barely changed despite the drop in deal numbers, edging up 0.32% as of last Friday to 97.44 points, compared with 100 points at the July 1997 peak for the market.
The index was 10% higher than in November, when the government announced anti-speculation measures to cool home prices.
"The number of transactions has been declining for three straight weeks since banks raised interest rates three times. The thunderstorm at the weekend also deterred potential buyers from viewing flats," said David Chan, a director of Ricacorp.
Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, said last week the government would maintain its land sale policy to ensure "sufficient" land supply but "won't hesitate" to implement further measures to curb a rise in home prices when necessary.
"I admit that local home prices are still soaring after the government's anti-speculation measures were unveiled in mid-November. New flat prices continue to soar and this trend is alarming to us," Tsang told lawmakers at a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Council last Thursday.
He said the government would do all it could to curb property prices.
However, Nomura remained bullish on the market outlook. "The market's current focus is on affordability and mortgage rates; but there are powerful factors still at hand," said Paul Louie, regional head of property research at Nomura International.
Louie noted that the number of Hong Kong babies born to mainland mothers increased 9.7% last year to 32,653, and cross-border student arrivals had increased 22% a year over the past five years to 9,899.
"If you believe these mainland parents will one day live in Hong Kong, it will create a new buying force in the market," he said. "We continue to believe that as long as buyers outnumber sellers and demand exceeds supply, home prices will become even more unaffordable." — SCMP
SHARE
