Hong Kong’s home sales flop as market rout, higher mortgages deter residential property buyers

Sales of newly completed flats flopped for a second consecutive weekend in Hong Kong, as a stock market rout, rising mortgages and the worsening US-China trade war deterred buyers from two newly completed apartment projects in the city.

Nan Fung managed to sell only 100 units, or 20 per cent of the 491 flats offered, at its LP6 project at Lohas Park in Tseung Kwan O as of 5:30pm on Saturday, even after discounting the offers by 19.5 per cent, for an average price of HK$16,006 per square foot. At the One East Coast project at Yau Tong in Kowloon, only 43 of the 130 condominium units on offer were sold, agents said,

The weekend’s “sales results cannot be compared with those a couple of months ago,” said Sammy Po, the chief executive at Midland Realty’s residential department. “The market has been hit by headwinds such as the US-China trade war, rising interest rates and launch of the heavily discounted Home Ownership Scheme,” which provided more affordable prices for first-time buyers, he said.

During the previous weekend, buyers took up 181 of 310 flats offered at Le Pont, a project by Vanke Property (Hong Kong) in Tuen Mun, despite incentives that included discounted mortgage rates and cash rebates.

This past weekend’s lacklustre performance in Hong Kong is further evidence that the world’s most expensive residential property market has cooled, after rising for 28 consecutive months through August.

Median home prices may declined by between 3 per cent and 5 per cent by December, from the June quarter, agents said.