(By Leong Yuet Kam)
The continued COVID-19 epidemic decreases the buyers' houses visiting activities, suppresses their willingness to enter the market, and stops developers' new projects launching after the Spring Festival. Some developers can only increase commissions to promote the sales of inventory or existing houses, attracting customers in disguise. On the first 28 days of February, about 323 first-hand property units had been sold. The market estimates the sales volume in the whole month to about 350 units, not only a sharply 70% drop from 1,180 units in January but also the four-year-low since January 2016 when the record was 233 units.
More and more transactions with price decrease appear. The second-hand property market warms up.
According to the record of first-hand residential transactions and market sources, as of yesterday, about 323 first-hand property units had been sold on the first 28 days of February, and about 350 units would be sold throughout the month by estimation. Only about 120 units were sold in the first ten-day of February. So developers increased commissions to promote the sales for inventory and existing houses in the last ten-day of February, attracting customers in disguise, then the trading warms up. The sales of New World's Fleur Pavilia in North Point, MOUNT PAVILIA in Clear Water Bay Road, and ATRIUM HOUSE in Yuen Long increased significantly after commission rising, with ATRIUM HOUSE in Yuen Long selling over 50 units within 5 days.
The APAC Vice President and Residential Department President of Centaline Property, Chen Wing-Kit expresses, developers increased commissions to promote the sale of inventory and existing houses in the last ten-day of February, so the second-hand property owners also began to reduce prices by 5-10%. It warms up the trading of the first and second-hand properties in the last ten-day of February, so Centaline Property's Residential Department would still make both ends meet. He considers that the publics' willingness to enter the market will increase under the continued low-interest-rate environment in Hong Kong if developers or owners are willing to reduce prices. So he believes the first and second-hand property market situation will gradually improve in March, and the first-hand property transactions are expected to rise by 1.2 times to about 800 units.
Competition breaks out among new projects in Tuen Mun.
The first-hand property trading in late February improved. Many new projects are preparing the launch in March. New projects competition would take the lead to break out in Tuen Mun. China Evergrande's Emerald Bay Phase 2 in Tuen Mun had published the first price list including 250 units last October. Currently, it changes payment methods to increase discounts in disguise form of decreasing prices by 4%. Its deployment for sale will be next week. At this time, the nearby project Wing Tai Properties Limited's OMA OMA, also changed the payment methods yesterday to cope with the competition.
The OMA OMA in Tuen Mun yesterday changed the original 120-day payment to 90-day payment. In addition to maintaining the prices on the price list, the 90-day payment includes an additional 3% stamp duty discount. At the same time, the flexible installment payment and "OMA OMA 1100 first mortgage payment plan" were canceled, but the "OMA OMA Super Easy First Mortgage Payment Plan" was added. Buyers can apply to the designated financial company for the highest first mortgage of 90% of the property price in 36 months and enjoy free of principal repayment but only interest repayment during the loan period.
Besides, Henderson Land 's THE RICHMOND in Midlevels West additionally launched 30 units yesterday. They are open-style, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units in 181 to 468 sq ft, with the prices at HKD6.84-19.169 million and the average sq ft price at HKD37,283. The highest discount of 7% is maintained. So the discounted prices are HKD6.3612-17.827 million, with the discounted average sq ft price at HKD34,673, a slight increase of 1%. This launch includes the smallest unit in Midlevels West. Which is room B on the 2nd floor in 181 sq ft, with the price at HKD7.276 million, and the discounted price is HKD6.767 million after deducting the highest discount of 7%, leading the discounted sq ft price to HKD37,385.
