Hong Kong homebuyers snap up Sun Hung Kai’s Silicon Hill flats for the second weekend in a row, aiming to get ahead of higher interest rates

Every one of the 198 flats on offer – including eight for sale by tender – at the project at Pak Shek Kok in Tai Po district sold out, according to sales agents

The flats, ranging from 217 to 770 square feet (71.5 square metres), were priced between HK$3.79 million and HK$11.34 million (US$1.44 million) after discounts

Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP)’s Silicon Hill flats have sold out for the second consecutive weekend, as homebuyers plunged into Hong Kong’s housing market to get ahead of higher interest rates.

Every one of the 198 flats on offer – including eight for sale by tender – at the project at Pak Shek Kok in Tai Po district sold out, according to sales agents.

The flats, ranging from 217 to 770 square feet (71.5 square metres), were priced between HK$3.79 million and HK$11.34 million (US$1.44 million), or HK$16,427 to HK$20,354 per square foot after discounts of up to 17.5 per cent. The results of the eight units sold through tender were not released yet.

The sell-out launch marked the second bumper weekend for SHKP, which sold all 170 flats the previous weekend, a successful campaign that gave the developer the confidence to raise the average price by 0.9 per cent over one week.

“The discounts and the low price were the first reasons for the strong sales result,” a property agent said. “The average price per square foot is lower than the price of second-hand properties in Pak Shek Kok.”

The city’s base lending rate rose by 50 basis points in May to 1.25 per cent, after the US Federal Reserve raised its rate by half a point, the biggest one-time increase in Fed rates since 2000.

The Fed has signalled 10 increments in US interest rates, raising the Fed rate from zero to 2.6 per cent by the end of this year, and to 3.75 per cent by the end of 2023, economists said.

Hong Kong’s biggest banks are holding their prime rates unchanged for now, with HSBC, Bank of China (Hong Kong) and Hang Seng Bank keeping it at 5 per cent, while Standard Chartered and Bank of East Asia held their rate steady at 5.25 per cent.

In the previous cycle, the city’s banks waited through nine consecutive increments of 25 basis points each by Hong Kong’s monetary authority before raising their prime rate by 0.125 percentage point in 2018, passing some of the higher borrowing costs to customers for the first time in a decade.

Still, property buyers are not taking their chances, seeking to get ahead of higher interest rates. Silicon Hill’s strong sales also benefited from the proposed Pak Shek Kok railway station which is expected to launch in the future and improve transport in the area, according to the agent. The project is also attractive to young homebuyers due to its low density, which is more comfortable to live in, the agent said.

Hong Kong’s property market sentiment improved in June, even as the city is still wallowing in one of its worst economic contractions on record amid a persistent Covid-19 outbreak. The city’s borders with southern China remained closed, leaving the housing market to rely on demand from the city’s residents, another property agent said, in a note on Saturday.

Around 70 to 80 per cent of the customers who attended SHKP’s sales launch on Saturday were buying for their own use, while around 20 per cent were looking to add the flats as investments for rental purposes, according to the agent.

The Silicon Hill project has been favoured by customers who plan to buy the property and use that to collect rent. As more overseas students in Hong Kong will be looking for apartments for rentals in the city this summer holiday, it will also promote the rental transactions of the project, the agent said.

(South China Morning Post)

市建局西營盤項目招標

市建局西營盤崇慶里 / 桂香街發展項目，昨日正式推出招標。消息透露，發展商須自行提出「一口價」，以價高者得決勝負，日後售樓收益達30億，即須按比例分紅，最高為五成。該項目綜合市場估值約14.7億至16.1億，每呎樓面地價約1.55萬至1.7萬。

西營盤崇慶里 / 桂香街發展項目，為市建局逾5年來，首度推出的港島市區住宅重建項目，上月中截收意向，昨日正式推出招標。市場消息指出，項目售樓收益達30億，須與市建局按比例分紅，達標後首5000萬須分紅兩成，其後收益每5000萬分紅增加一成，分紅比例最多五成，若以項目總樓面約9.48萬方呎計，相當於每方呎售價逾3.16萬便需要分紅，而且發展商亦須向市建局自行提出「一口價」，以價高者得作勝負關鍵。

賣樓收益達30億須按比例分紅

另外，該項目設有限呎條款，住宅單位面積不得少於300方呎，並不包括露台面積，同時規定最少一半的單位面積不可超過480方呎。

上述項目於上月10日完成招收意向書程序，並接獲34份意向書，該局昨日正式邀請所有發展商及財團入標競投，並於7月11日截標。市建局指出，招標遴選小組將評審收到的標書，並於稍後就批出本項目的發展向市建局董事會提交建議，由董事會作最終決定。成功取得項目的發展商，須按發展協議中列明的標準與品質、可持續發展和智能系統的要求，興建新項目，提供一個可持續發展的生活環境。

單位面積不可少於300呎

該項目位於崇慶里1至7號、桂香街12至16號及德輔道西216至218號，鄰近私樓薈；地盤面積約1.16萬方呎，可建總樓面約9.48萬方呎，當中包括約4306方呎的商業樓面。綜合市場估值，地皮估值介乎約14.7億至16.1億，每方呎樓面地價約1.55萬至1.7萬。

另外，地政總署昨亦公布，推出赤柱舂坎角的鄉郊建屋地段第1220號用地，指定作對外電訊站用途，地盤面積約1.98萬方呎，將於本月17日起招標，7月29日截標。投標者只限於根據《公司條例》註冊的法團公司，而公司須持有通訊局發出的綜合傳送者牌照，並獲授權在香港利用電纜或非電纜方式提供對外電訊服務，或已獲得通訊局原則上批准授予綜合傳送者牌照在香港提供該等電訊服務。

(星島日報)