9 Queen’s Road holds the record for Hong Kong’s priciest floor.
Record high prices make the news again today in Hong Kong, with confirmation that a floor in an office tower on Queen’s Road has sold at just under HK$60,000 per square foot.
Also in the headlines, a developer is planning residential units that are just 123 square foot, smaller than a typical American parking space in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong’s poorest district, vacancy in Central’s office space has dropped to its lowest since 2015 despite an exodus from the district by multinational companies.
And with home prices continuing to skyrocket, the city’s central bank reminds zealous homebuyers that they should pay attention to the rising interest rates when making a purchase. All these stories and more await you, if you just keep reading.
Floor in 9 Queen’s Road Central Breaks Price Record
Market sources have confirmed that a floor in 9 Queen’s Road Central, an office tower in the Hong Kong’s business hub, has sold for HK$514 million, according to a report yesterday in the Hong Kong Economic Times.
The deal for the 8,570 square foot (796 square metre) 34th floor of the grade A office building, which was reported as on the way earlier this month, works out to HK$59,977 per square foot, breaking the previous record high price set when the top floor of the Center on Queen’s Road sold for HK$55,854 per square foot last September. Read more>>
New Homes Now Smaller Than Parking Spaces in Sham Shui Po
Hong Kong’s developers are shrinking their apartments, as surging prices severely limit the amount of money that first-time buyers can put down on their property, putting all but the smallest units beyond their budgets.
In Sham Shui Po, Kowloon City and Tin Shui Wai, 15 percent of the 3,300 apartment units in six projects approved for construction will be smaller than 200 square feet (18.6 square metres) in usable area, according to data released by the Buildings Department. Read more>>
Central Office Vacancy Drops to Lowest Since 2015
Vacancy for office space in Central dropped to 1.1 percent in the first quarter this year, the lowest since September 2015, a report from CBRE shows. The finance industry and co-working space operator drove the leasing last quarter in Central.
Retailers are seen to have moved back to prime business districts as rents there drop. Jewellery retailer Chow Tai Fook leased a 1,800 square foot shop in Tsim Sha Tsui, along with a few shops in Causeway Bay. Read more>>
HKMA Warns Homebuyers of Rising Interest Rates
Potential home buyers are warned to be cautious of the risks of rising of interest rates, amid the threat of a Sino-US trade war and geopolitics that may exert pressure on the property market.
The three-month Hong Kong interbank rate, which influences mortgage rates, hit its highest since 2008, edging up to 1.33661 percent yesterday. If Hong Kong dollar rates climb in tandem with US rates, homebuyers will have to assess the risk for the potential of rising borrowing costs, Hong Kong Monetary Authority deputy chief executive Howard Lee Tat-chi said. Read more>>
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