Earlier, there were cases where new developments were offered at 10% to 20% lower prices than the previous phase in order to get rid of the stock, and developers have slowed down the supply of new developments in order to keep the property market stable. According to the latest information from the Lands Department, a total of 1,162 units applied for pre-sale consent in the first quarter of this year, a 78.7% quarter-on-quarter drop and a quarterly low in nine years. A total of 42 residential projects with a total of 18,699 units were pending pre-sale approval as of March, down 4% month-on-month, a third consecutive month of decline and a new one-year low.
In fact, due to the epidemic and the interest rate hike last year, new property sales were less than 10,000 units, a record low for the year since the implementation of the new first-hand legislation in 2013, and property prices fell by more than 15%.
Many new properties planned for sale last year have to be postponed to this year, coupled with the accumulation of uncompleted units and the uncertainty of the external economic environment, even though the CCL for the first quarter rose by 7.39% due to the news of customs clearance, major developers have had to slash prices by 10% to 20% to promote new and uncompleted properties this year, including Oi Hoi Son, KOKO ROSSO, NOVO LAND The fact that developers are keen to sell their properties reflects the fact that they are keen to sell their properties.
According to the information from the Lands Department, there were two new applications in March, including Far East Development and New World's 2 King's Street, Kai Tak Phase 1 (291 units) and Vanke (Hong Kong)'s Mavo Road, Tai Po Phase 1 (404 units), involving 695 units, a significant increase of 64.7% over February. However, with only 45 units in January and 422 units in February, the total number of units recorded in the first quarter of the year was only 1,162, a drop of 78.7% from the 5,459 units recorded in the fourth quarter of last year and a record low in more than nine years, despite the significant increase in March.
According to Midland Property's Chief Analyst Lau Ka-fai, although the number of new applications for the first quarter has decreased, the total number of new units that have been approved for pre-sale but not yet put up for sale is still over 13,000 units.
Meanwhile, a total of three residential projects were approved for pre-sale in March, offering 1,482 units, up 90.2% month-on-month. These include The Opposite House Phase I IC (214 units) at Ho Man Tin Station, a joint venture between Chinachem and MTR Corporation, Kai Tak Harbour Twin Diamonds (702 units) developed by China Overseas, and Kai Tak Skyrail, a joint venture between six major developers including Henderson Land, Wheelock Properties, Chinachem, New World, China Overseas and Imperial Group, offering 566 units. Among them, Phase IC of The Opposite House has already been put up for sale, while Harbourfront - Double Diamond and Skyrocket are expected to take over this month.
Information from the Lands Department also shows that Cheung Kong has named The Coast Line at 8 Tung Yuen Street, Yau Tong, with 228 units in the first phase, while Agile's privately-owned project at South Lantau Road, Cheung Sha Island, Lantau Island, is named Parkview, offering 25 units.
In addition, new developments have started again after the Easter break. According to Mr Wong Kwong-yiu, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Wheelock Properties, the 98-unit sale will take place this Saturday, comprising 39 one-bedroom (open plan kitchen) units, 23 two-bedroom (open plan kitchen) units and 36 two-bedroom terraced kitchen units with a discounted price of 589 units under the 120-day cash payment plan. The discounted prices range from $5,898,000 to $11,097,000, with discounted square footage ranging from $17,708 to $23,965 and an average discounted square footage of $19,495, of which 95 units (97%) are below $10 million.
Mr Chan Man-fai, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Star Properties, said that a total of 145 units have been sold so far in Yuen Long after the rain, of which about 50% are one-bedroom (open kitchen) units, about 37% are two-bedroom (open kitchen) units, about 10% are open-plan units and about 3% are other units, while about 83% of buyers have opted for the building term payment plan. The 145 units sold in the project generated a total of over $900 million for the Group.
