The battle for new properties in the city is heating up. ORIA, a residential development project developed by Hip Shing Hong and located at Shau Kei Wan East Main Street on Hong Kong Island, announced its first price list today (20th), involving 50 units at an average price of $23,042 per square foot, which is the most affordable new development on Hong Kong Island in more than 5 years, with an entry fee of $4.788 million for open-plan units.

The last new property with the lowest average price on Hong Kong Island is Aberdeen Nam Tsin Welcome Coast by Henderson Land (012), which launched its first batch of 70-unit price list in March 2018 at a discounted average price of $21,429. Compared to One Eighty, a brand new development in Shau Kei Wan to be launched in October 2019, the first batch of 30 units at a discounted average price of $23,805 per square foot is about 3.2% lower than the first batch of Aohua.

Mr. Timothy Fong, the general manager of Hip Shing Hong Development, said he was confident in the recent market situation and considered the first batch of units to be attractively priced with certain concessions, and forecasted that there would be adjustments afterwards.

Mr. Cheung Sze Man, Head of Property Sales of Hip Shing Hong Kong Development, said that the first price list of Ao Wah is launched at market price, with reference to the first and second-hand transactions in the market and the recent transaction prices of new properties in the New Territories and Kowloon, and the clientele is targeted at young buyers in Kowloon East and Hong Kong Island.

The most affordable price and per square foot price is for Room G on the 5th floor, with 221 square feet of saleable area and open partitions, at a discounted price of $4,788,000, or $21,865 per square foot. The first price list involves 32 open-plan, 14 one-bedroom and 4 two-bedroom units with saleable area of 220 to 456 square feet.

To celebrate its 75th anniversary, the Group is offering an additional 1% discount on the sale price and four payment methods, with a total discount of 4% to 10%, to help buyers buy their homes with ease.

In addition, buyers can take out a mortgage of up to 85% of the purchase price from the developer's designated finance company for a maximum repayment period of 30 years, with no interest and no mortgage payments for the first two years, and mortgage payments starting in the 25th month. The interest rate is P (HSBC prime rate, currently 5.75%) minus 2.5% for the 25th to 36th mortgage, P minus 1% for the 37th to 48th month, P for the 49th to 60th month, and P plus 1% from the 61st month.

Located at Shau Kei Wan East Main Street, Ao Wah offers 156 units, mainly 1 and 2 bedroom units with saleable area of 190 to 737 square feet, of which 12 units are featured, suitable for office workers and young families in the two core business districts of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon East.

Recently, the city has broken out a fierce battle for customers, also located on Hong Kong Island, Ap Lei Chau String Coast has also announced its first price list last week, involving 50 units, the discounted average price of $26,862, the most affordable open-plan units discounted from $5.319 million.