Tiny apartments in Hong Kong have suddenly lost their luster
The era when Hong Kong residents loved buying — and living in — apartments the size of most kitchens found in ordinary US homes appears to be over. If ever there was an indicator that Hong Kong’s decade-plus run of rising home prices is over, the failed attempt at selling a whole building of tiny homes in far-flung Tuen Mun district is a big one. In fact, Hong Kong was full of news of property buyers taking haircuts in fire sales as they rushed to temper their losses in the city’s never-ending property game. Read on for all these stories and more.
Tiny Flat Boom Fizzles
Along with a decline in the city’s median home price has come the end of speculative demand for shoebox flats in the city, with the recent attempted sale of tiny homes in Tuen Mun attracting scant interest, the South China Morning Post reported.
Agents in the sale, at the T-Plus project, managed to sell only two of 73 units on offer. The flats, each at around 130 square feet (12 square metres), had price tags starting at HK$2.85 million ($364,000). The result was called “the worst in recent times.” Read more>>
Tai Po Luxury Home Sells at 18 Percent Loss
A mainland Chinese homeowner took an 18 percent loss, or HK$22 million, on the HK$98 million ($12.5 million) sale of his 6,371 square foot (592 square metre) luxury house and accompanying parking spaces in The Beverly Hills project of Tai Po in Hong Kong’s eastern New Territories, after holding it for six years, according to a report in Apple Daily.
The sale price of the house, in a Henderson Land Development project, works out to an average of HK$15,832 per square foot, which would still be a record price in the area for a house sold on the secondary market. Read more>>
Kowloon Commercial Building For Sale at HK$2.1 Billion
The owner of commercial building Peak Castle on Castle Peak Road in Cheung Sha Wan in Kowloon has priced the whole property at HK$2.1 billion ($268.7 million), expecting to reach an average price of HK$12,000 per square foot, with the bidding to be closed on January 23rd, according to a report in the Hong Kong Economic Journal on Tuesday.
Of the building’s total space of 175,000 square feet (16,258 square metres), the ground floor is used for shops and the upper 22 floors are used for offices, with each floor comprising 7,500 square feet, the Journal reported. Read more>>
Homeowners Said in Rush To Sell
The rush by Hong Kong homeowners and property investors to make money before home values fall even further has accelerated, with values having already plunged by as much as 20 percent, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.
The report pointed to double-digit price declines in select housing estates, including Kingswood Villas in Tin Shui Wai, Park Island in Ma Wan, Residence Bel-Air in Pok Fu Lam, and Caribbean Coast in Tung Chung. Lackluster sales at recent housing project launches have also dampened enthusiasm, the report said. Read More>>
HKMA To Consider Easing Measures If Property Market Weakens
Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief Norman Chan Tak-lam said the HKMA would consider monetary easing measures should the city’s property market enter a downward cycle, which he claimed had not yet occurred, the SCMP reported.
Chan, speaking in Beijing, said it was up to banks whether to follow the interest rate increases set by the US Federal Reserve, one of which is expected to occur next week. Read more>>
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