Analysis | ‘Always the first’: CK Asset’s history of using discounts to hone its edge, clear inventory to survive Hong Kong’s property market slumps
- This week’s Coast Line II sale is far from the first time the property flagship of Li Ka-shing has used low prices to get attention and clear inventory
- ‘As a developer you want your money back as soon as possible, and also to get a profit,’ expert says
Tens of thousands of people queued for hours on Saturday to get their hands on something unseen for seven years in Hong Kong: new flats on offer by one of the city’s most renown developers at prices last recorded in 2016.
The crowd started assembling at 8am, a full two hours before CK Asset Holding began offering the first 626 flats at its Coast Line II apartments project in Yau Tong on the Kowloon peninsula. From the lobby of a shopping centre, the line spilled over a footbridge across a major thoroughfare, ending at a spot in a subway station three hours’ queue away from the sales desk.
By 9pm, CK Asset sold every flat in the current phase for a haul estimated at HK$4.67 billion (US$597 million). The sell-out was almost guaranteed, as 60 buyers had registered to bid for every available flat.
