Property developers are preparing to launch 11 residential projects this April, a move welcomed by home buyers in Hong Kong.
Kerry Properties will release the first 50 units of the 968-unit Lions Rise development at Wong Tai Sin, with a selling price of approximately HK$12,000 psf.
Despite the project promotion in the mainland, the developer anticipates 80 percent of its home buyers to be end-users and the rest to be investors from abroad.
Sensing a great opportunity for quick profit and after witnessing aggressive pricing at Lions Rise, about 10 percent of developers nearby are increasing their home prices by three to five percent, according to Midland Realty.
Meanwhile, Swire Properties has listed 93 of its 126 flats at Azura on Seymour Road for initial sale. However, the developer has sold only 53 flats at an average price of HK$23,000 psf, while the 40 unsold flats are now priced at an average of HK$18,000 psf.
Swire asserted that it will not reduce prices, since the interest rate increase has not driven away possible home buyers from the real estate market.
“After the hike, the interest rate is still low and buyers are still looking at ways to spending their money,” said Wendy Ho, Senior Sales Manager at Swire Properties.
Another property developer, Sun Hung Kai Properties, is planning to sell flats in its high-end Imperial Cullinan in West Kowloon by the end of April.
The initial batch of flats will range from 1,600 to 1,700 sq ft in size and be sold at approximately HK$20,000 psf.
For the past two weeks, the project has been marketed in Hong Kong and mainland China. There have been over 10,000 inquiries, of which 7,000 are from Hong Kong and 3,000 from Shenzhen. The developer has also received about 1,000 inquiries from foreign home buyers.
The developer plans to release two of Imperial Cullinan’s six towers for sale.
Meanwhile, the Lands Department has given its pre-sale permission to the Uptown project from Cheung Kong in Yuen Long.
Flat sales in Uptown can be expected to start before Easter. The four-room flats are priced from HK$7 million (HK$5,600 psf) each.