Hong Kong's new property market is hot, unaffected by the second interest rate hike in the United States this year, with more than 555 units sold on Saturday and Sunday (25th and 26th), the strongest weekend for the new property market in seven months since August last year.

Developers are taking advantage of the market to step up their sales efforts, with Chinachem and MTR's The Opposite House, Phase IB, yesterday announcing the launch of the first batch of 80 units in Phase IC at an average discounted price of $25,953 per square foot and a discounted entry fee of $12.16 million for a two-bedroom apartment, which is about 4.5% higher than the first batch in Phase IB.

The US announced a 0.25% interest rate hike last Thursday, the same rate as in February, but the Hong Kong banks did not follow the US rate hike for the second consecutive time. The Hong Kong mortgage industry believes that Hong Kong's large banks are relatively well-funded and are in a position not to follow the full rate hike or delay it.

As the first batch of new developments to be put up for sale after the US interest rate hike, two new developments were launched last Saturday (25), namely Tuen Mun Feiyang Phase 2 and Homantin Station Yu Yi Phase IB, both of which were well received with a total of 523 units sold.

On the other hand, Tuen Mun Feiyang 2, a joint venture between Cheung Kong (1113) and SHKP (0016), also launched on Saturday with 400 units, of which 344 units were sold, accounting for 86% of the number of units put up for sale, and a total of $1.6 billion was realized, with all 1-bedroom units sold out.

Together with other new developments, a total of 555 units were sold in the past two days, the strongest weekend in the new property market since 680 units were sold in two days on 6 and 7 August last year.

During Saturday's sales at The Opposite House, Centaline Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Sze Chun-rung, took a physical step to support the property market as a first home buyer, buying a 3-bedroom apartment at The Opposite House at a cost of about $26 million as an investment, while Ms Chan, who bought a 1-bedroom apartment at Feiyang, said that Feiyang Phase 2 has a longer life span and is not expected to be affected by the interest rate hike.

The first price list for Phase IC, which was announced yesterday, covers a total of 80 units of different household types, with a total value of about $1.5 billion based on the price, including 55 two-bedroom units and 25 three-bedroom units with a practical area of 465 to 934 square feet, said Helen Fung, sales director of Chinachem Group. She added that the project is expected to have a certain degree of upward price adjustment in the future due to the availability of flats above MTR stations and sea view.

In addition, The Opposite House Phase IC continues to offer three payment methods, with discounted selling prices ranging from approximately $12,601,000 to $25,843,400, and discounted square footage ranging from $21,850 to $30,563, after a maximum discount of 15%.

Following the launch of the first 98 units at KOKO MARE in Lam Tin by Wheelock Properties, Mr Wong Kwong-yiu, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Wheelock Properties, said yesterday that the project had received about 1,200 tickets as of yesterday and was oversubscribed by more than 11 times. The additional units will be concentrated in Block 8, with some sea view units. Yesterday was the second day that KOKO MARE opened its showroom to the public and recorded over 6,000 visitors.

In addition, KOKO MARE (0034) continued to record transactions, with two transactions recorded over the past weekend, generating over $8 million in cash. In addition, Baker Place - Ying Hui in Hung Hom, a subsidiary of Henderson Land (0012), was reported to have received about 300 votes up to yesterday, an over-subscription of more than 4.3 times.

Hong Kong Land's Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ma Tai-yang, said yesterday that the new property market was blossoming, offering a wide range of choices to prospective buyers, with a number of new properties selling well, while the number of first-hand transactions in the first quarter has accumulated over 3,000, nearly tripling from the fourth quarter of last year.