(By Leong Yuet Kam)
Although the Sino-US trade war deteriorate and Hong Kong violent conflicts continue, but many customers were still attracted when developers slightly lower the prices of new projects, because the housing demand in Hong Kong where there are too many people with few land is huge. LOHAS Park MARINI mainly provides one to two-bedroom units put on sale the first round of 500 units yesterday, although the number of large customers decreased and the house selecting speed of individual customer group B slowed down obviously, but 435 units were sold finally in one day, with the sales rate in 87%, taking in over HKD3.3 billion. Most buyers are users, with over a half are customers of 26-35 years old, and there was large customer spending HKD 23 million to buy 3 units. Developer Wheelock has sold over HKD1,730 units taking in more than HKD19.7 billion in the first eight months this year.
MARINI which had collected over 7,000 applications has arranged house selecting in the sales office in The Gateway, Tsim Sha Tsui since yesterday morning, while there were no many people in the period for large customer group B, with only about 20 people arrived. The APAC Vice President and Residential Department President of Centaline Property, Chan WingKit frankly said, the Sino-US trade war and continuous repeatedly social movement have affected the investment atmosphere, decreasing the investors number, while proportion of investors in MARINI is less than 10% of the total, and the attendance of Group A in their company was about 80%, but customer sources were few. The Chief Executive of the Midland Real Estate Residential Department, Bou SiuMing said, the buyer attendance of Group A in their company was about 80%, and there was large customer spending about HKD20 million to buy one unit of three-bedroom and one unit of two-bedroom. Source points out that, only 17 units were sold in the period for large customer in Group A.
Since developer arranged individual customers in Group B to select house in different period of the day, so during the period for Group B from morning to noon, there were no crowd people in the site like the situation when MONTARA and GRAND MONTARA of the same district were being put on sale in the first half of this year. Po Siuming said, the buyer attendance of Group B was about 80%, with most are young buyers born after 1980 or 1990, accounting for about 70%. Chan WingKit expressed, the attendance of Group B was up to 70%.
Yesterday, MARINI put on sale the first round of 500 units in usable areas of 348-770 sq ft, including one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom and feature unit, and the prices were HKD6.622-17.295 million, with the discounted prices at HKD5.199-13.577 million after deducting the highest discount of 21.5%, leading the discounted average sq ft price at HKD15,895, lower 7% than that of the last batch of GRAND MONTARA of the same district in this June, also developer provided long transaction period payment method. LOHAS Park phase 9B uploaded brochure last night, and the project was named GRAND MARINI supplying 503 units.
Cullinan West in Nam Cheong Station had case of forfeiture of deposit, being forfeited of HKD1.6 million.
In addition, SHKP’s Cullinan West in Nam Cheong Station recorded one case of forfeiture of deposit for a one-bedroom unit. According to the transactions record book, it is room A on the 53rd floor in block 5B in usable area of 358 sq ft, and it had been sold at HKD10.7239 million in the middle of September, also the buyer signed the formal agreement for sale and purchase later, but recently buyer canceled the transaction, so it is estimated the deposit that 15% of property price, which is over HKD1.6 million would be forfeited. According to statistics, there were at least about 20 cases of forfeiture of deposit in the first hand property market in August.
The first hand property sales maintains steady in this month because developers’ pricing was restrained, with some even lower than the second hand sq ft price in the same district. Po Siuming expressed, the first hand property transactions in August may up to 1,400 cases, less 200 cases than prediction and similar to that of last month, while the second hand property transactions may up to 2,600 cases, less 20% than last month. Other developers are ready to move seeing the first hand property sales are still ideal, and it is estimated about over 3,200 new properties will be put on sale in September. He predicted the property price decrease in the third quarter is about 3-5%, and it is estimated the price will continue to down in the fourth quarter.
