The resumption of full customs clearance between the Mainland and Hong Kong, coupled with the fact that Hong Kong's major banks have not followed the US in raising interest rates, and the market is expected to see a peak in interest rates this year, have all contributed to a positive property market sentiment. The number of second-hand transactions at the neighbouring ports rose by 66.7% from 60 in the previous week (January 23 to January 29), reaching a new high of nearly 3 weeks.
The number of second-hand transactions in the neighbouring ports has doubled, with Centaline's Wang Qinxue saying that a total of 15 transactions were recorded in Yuen Long this past weekend, a double-digit increase from the previous weekend's five transactions.
Midland Yin Lerin said that a single house in Hung Hom's Victoria Harbour - Star Bank was taken up by a tenant from the same estate and sold for $110 million with a double parking space. The 2,188-square-foot, four-bedroom, two-suite flat with an additional 806-square-foot front garden was sold at around $50,274 per square foot.
Among the new developments, 5 units were sold in the past two days in the existing Cheung Sha Wan Rui Feng, which is owned by Ding Pei Group.
The average price of a square foot sold was $22,232 and the highest price was more than $14.11 million, said Mr Chan Yuk-sing, Managing Director of Ding Pei.
He believes that with the implementation of quarantine free clearance between the two places, the atmosphere of the property market will continue to improve, driving residential transactions to continue to rise.
A total of 12 units were sold in the past three days under the new 360-day or 720-day "live-and-pay" payment scheme at Kowloon Development's Hoi Yin Estate in Tseung Kwan O.
The last 22 units of the Cheung Sha Wan Oasis, a joint venture between Cheung Kong and the URA, were scheduled to go on sale this Friday, with 10 of them being offered at a price point of more than 10% to nearly 16%, and the other 12 being put up for tender.
Due to the good response from the viewing weekend, the developer has decided to increase the number of units available for public sale on price lists and re-upload the new price lists, instead offering all 18 units of strata units on price lists and 4 units of rooftop units by tender.
Apart from residential units, there is also interest in medical commercial buildings. According to Kin Hao Land Group, since the announcement of the resumption of customs clearance between the Mainland and Hong Kong, the Group's Tsim Sha Tsui medical commercial development, Ashley 21, has so far received over 100 enquiries from medical and medical aesthetics-related tenants who have expressed interest in locating their business at Ashley 21.
The latest lease agreement with a leading local diagnostic medical imaging group involves approximately 2,700 to 3,000 square feet of floor space, equivalent to half a floor. The diagnostic medical imaging group already has three imaging centres in Hong Kong and has chosen Ashley 21 in Tsim Sha Tsui as the fourth location for its expansion.
According to Kin Hao Land, Ashley 21 in Tsim Sha Tsui is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year and is now being pre-let at an intended rent of $55 to $57 per square foot, with a standard floor area of approximately 5,500 square feet, with various facilities and designs designed for various types of polyclinics, specialist medical centres, medical aesthetic centres and ambulatory surgery centres.
