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HONG KONG: Chilly weather and a soon-to-be launched big housing project in Yuen Long deterred homebuyers, with the primary residential market virtually grinding to a halt over the three-day Lunar New Year holiday.
"As far as I know, not a single flat has been sold. It may be the worst performance of recent years," Sammy Po Siu-ming, a director of Midland Realty, said Feb 17.
Potential homebuyers seemed unimpressed by the developers' festive sweeteners, he said.
Henderson Land Development and Chinachem Group offered lai see of between HK$8,800 (RM3,855) and HK$38,000 to lure buyers to some of their projects during the Lunar New Year.
Bad weather put a dampener on people visiting new projects. "It's not just the cold - it rained for the first two days [of the holiday]. It definitely affected both the primary and secondary residential markets," he said.
"The market has been really quiet for the past three days. But it will pick up again after the break," he said.
Data collated by Midland Realty from deals at 10 large housing estates show that secondary market transactions dropped to just four flats.
Richard Lee Chi-shing, chief executive of Hong Kong Property, said potential homebuyers had deferred purchases after Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) said it might release Yoho Midtown in Yuen Long for sale as early as this Saturday. "Market attention will focus on Yoho Midtown because SHKP's pricing will provide a benchmark for the market," he said.
Only a few developers kept their sales offices open during the Lunar New Year and the flats on sale were mainly on higher floors, which meant they cost more.
For example, Henderson Land's Cite 33 in Prince Edward offered buyers investing in a two-bedroom flat lai see of HK$8,800 and HK$12,800 for customers buying a three-bedroom flat. But Lee said a 600 sq-ft, two-bedroom flat there would cost about HK$4.6 million or HK$7,000 per sq ft. – South China Morning Post
