Buyers shrug aside Covid-19 relapse for Wheelock’s Koko Hills flats in Lam Tin, giving legs to Hong Kong’s home bull run

Hong Kong’s property buyers shrugged aside a relapse of coronavirus infections to snap up new homes launched in two locations, giving legs to a tentative recovery in the city’s residential real estate market.

Wheelock Properties sold 85 flats at the Koko Hills project in Lam Tin for a total haul of HK$1.02 billion at 6:30pm, or 53 per cent of the 160 units offered, even as the project’s average price of HK$19,995 per square foot was about 15 per cent higher than the most recent new launch in the neighbourhood. Separately, CK Asset Holdings managed to clear 97 of 285 apartments in the third round of sales at its Sea To Sky complex at Lohas Park in Tseung Kwan O, according to sales agents.

“The recent home price index is already higher than the beginning of this year, so the [adverse] impact of the [coronavirus] outbreak on home price has been over,” said Wheelock’s Managing Director Ricky Wong. “The economy may rebound from the bottom in the second half of this year. What’s more, the low-interest environment still prevails and the stock market has performed well recently, creating a wealth effect” that stimulates demand, he said.

Still, up to 1,400 people registered to bid for Koko Hills, nearly nine buyers for each available flat, which starts at HK$7.87 million (US$1.02 million) for a unit measuring 366 square feet (34 square metres). Two of every three flats in the first round launched were priced above HK$10 million.

Abodes “priced more than HK$10 million have lower loan-to-value ratio,” which require buyers to put down more money upfront, said Louis Chan, Asia-Pacific vice-chairman and chief executive of residential division at Centaline.