The discounted sq ft price is HKD14,688. The lowest price for a two-bedroom unit in 472 sq ft is HKD6.546 million. Developers are conservative on the pricing of new projects under the influence of the COVID-19 epidemic. Wheelock's OCEAN MARINI, the LOHAS Park Phase 9C, which has the pre-sale period of about two years in Tsueng Kwan, yesterday announced the first price list. It includes 101 units with all in the layout of two-bedroom. The average sq ft price is HKD18,853, and the discounted average sq ft price is HKD14,688 after the highest discount of 22.1%. It is slightly lower about 3% than HKD14,997 and HKD15,075, which were the discounted average sq ft prices of the first batches launched last August and September of the same series projects MARINI and GRAND MARINI. The lowest discounted usable area price for two-bedroom in 472 is HKD6.546 million, with the lowest discounted sq ft price at HKD13,249. The discounted prices of all units are less than HKD10 million, and the discounted prices of 70% of units are less than HKD8 million. If choosing the flexible "Ease Housing" construction period payment plan, 76% of the units are less than HKD10 million, suitable for applying for a mortgage in 80% to 90%. Journalist(Leong Yuet Kam) Leong Chi-Kin, the Chairman of Wheelock, describes the prices of the first batch as "shocking." He says the pricing is lowered by about 2% to 3% in response to the current economic environment, not due to the epidemic, and it is a strategy of selling properties rather than a bearish outlook. They would "sell it all at once" if the market responds well, but there would only be slight price increases for additionally launched units in the future. Leong Chi-Kin believes that everyone knows the environment, since we have seen the epidemic development so far, plus with the impact of social events. However, he emphasizes that the lower selling price than the previous batches could not be interpreted as a gloomy market outlook, and too low prices would hurt the customers who live in phase 9A or 9B. Woo KwongYiu: "Attractive Prices" Woo KwongYiu, the Executive Director of Wheelock, decreases that the first prices list of this project is attractive, with the discounted prices of 70% of the units under HKD8 million, and all are lower than HKD10 million. The market value of the whole price list is about HKD990 million, with a discounted cost of about HKD770 million. He expresses that the project opened the sample flat for VIP last night and will open it to the public today. The application time will depend on the specific circumstance. The first price list has 101 units, distributed in Blocks 1A and 1B. All of them are two-bedroom units, including 52 open-kitchen units, 24 close-kitchen units, 23 two-bedroom-one-suite units, and 2 connect-platform units. These units, with the usable areas of 472-616 sq ft, are in sale prices of HKD8.402 million to HKD12.208 million. The highest discount rate for units in this batch increases by 0.6% to 22.1% compared with that for the phases 9A and 9C, and their discounted prices are from HKD6.546 million to HKD9.511 million. At the same time, the "Ease housing" construction payment plan is newly added in this batch. It has a longer time for paying the balance than the construction payment plan and another 1% discount to 3% to attract customers who want to change houses and investors. That is, there are 77 units lower than HKD10 million, suitable for applying for a mortgage in 80%-90%. Market transactions are expected to rebound after the US interest rate cut. Data shows that Wheelock Properties won the development right of LOHAS Park Phase 9C in Tsueng Kwan at the end of 2015. The sq ft floor area land premium approved at that time was HKD2,545, and the total investment was about HKD10 billion. Then the sq ft floor area land cost is about HKD9,000, base on the over 1,120,000 sq ft of the buildable floor area of the project's three buildings. Chen Wing-Kit, the Asian Pacific Region Vice Chairman and Residential Department President of Centaline, believes the discounted average sq ft price of the first price list of LOHAS Park's OCEAN MARINI is similar to that of the first batch of the project last August. It is lower 5% to 10% than the sq ft price of the new projects in the same district currently, and also lower about 7% to 8% than the second-hand property price of two-bedroom units at little above HKD7 million. It is believed the sales will not be a problem since the trading has rebounded after the US cut the interest rates. He estimates that developers will still provide more discounts in the future. It is expected that the prices of 5% to 10% lower than the market level will be attractive. In the first quarter, property prices are expected to fall by 5% to 8%, and the luxury property prices would fall by 10% to 15%. The property prices may rise in the second quarter, and property prices for the whole year remain bullish. Po Siuming, the Chief Executive Officer of Residential Department of Midland, points out that the project's opening price is restrained, which is about 10% lower than the first-hand sq ft property price of the same series projects in the same districts at HKD16,000. It is expected that all units in the first batch would be sold out. Many new projects deploy to enter the market this month. So the first-hand property transactions in March may rebound about twice to above 1,000 cases.