CK Asset, Sino Land and Henderson Land together plan to sell a total of 293 flats this weekend

CK Asset will sell 35 premium units at its Coast Line project in Yau Tong at prices ranging from HK$7.98 million to HK$12.9 million

Some of Hong Kong’s biggest developers have lined up sales of residential projects with revised price lists, using the recent prices as a benchmark to attract cautious buyers.

A total of 293 units in three projects on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories will be on offer this weekend.

“The housing market had been very quiet until Coast Line project in Yau Tong,” a property agent said. “The developers are now testing homebuyers’ appetite with prices that are close to or below market prices, using Coast Line as a reference.”

Discounts will be their go-to strategy to clear stock, the agent added.

CK Asset Holdings, Li Ka-shing’s property flagship, has found success with its reduced pricing strategy, selling 832 of the 886 units on offer at the Coast Line, raking in HK$5.36 billion (US$684 million) in the process. The flats were priced at an average of HK$15,530 per square foot, the cheapest in seven years, which attracted thousands of homebuyers who bought all the units in phase II on the first day of sale on August 12, and 95 per cent of phase I flats last Sunday.

CK Asset on Tuesday released the price list of 35 premium units, including 28 duplexes and four split-level units, with the sale to take place on Saturday. The flats are priced from HK$7.98 million to HK$12.9 million after discounts.

Hong Kong’s property market has seen a marked slowdown this year. Of the 7,600 flats completed in the first half, only 55 per cent were sold as of end-June, lower than the average sell-through rate of 78 per cent over the last five years, according to an international property agency’s latest report.

Most buyers have adopted a wait-and-see attitude and are reluctant to buy flats as they anticipate prices to drop further, according to an agent.

“The new mass residential projects have to offer bigger discounts to lure buyers,” the agent said. “Coast Line in Yau Tong is an example where the prices are attractive to buyers, marking the start of a price war.”

On Monday, Villa Garda III in Lohas Park, developed by Sino Land, K Wah International and China Merchants Land, released the pricing for the second batch of 108 units: HK$16,938 per square foot on average after discounts.

The batch comprises 98 two-bedroom and 10 three-bedroom units ranging from HK$7.16 million to HK$12.7 million, or HK$15,884 to HK$17,681 per square foot after a maximum discount of 15 per cent.

Villa Garda III’s developers priced the first batch of 130 units last Thursday at HK$16,938 per square foot on average after discounts, 7.8 per cent lower than the HK$18,378 per square foot for phase II last year.

The 238 flats are expected to go on sale over the weekend, according to Sino Land.

Henderson Land Development released the price list for 42 units at the 420-unit The Holborn in Quarry Bay, with the first 20 flats to go on sale this Saturday.

The units include 19 one-bedroom and one two-bedroom flats, ranging from 255 sq ft to 413 sq ft. The flats are priced from HK$5.77 million to HK$11.85 million, or HK$22,609 to HK$28,687 per square foot after discounts.

“The latest price list of The Holborn is nearly 20 per cent lower compared with the first batch,” another agent said.

Henderson has sold 56 flats since mid-July for about HK$370 million. Since its launch in 2021, 93 per cent, or 192 of the 206 units at The Holborn have found buyers.

“Developers will cut prices of their projects by 5 to 10 per cent compared with new projects in the neighbourhood,” the first agent said.

The second agent agreed.

“We expect some developers to follow with price cuts later this year while others may slow down project launches,” the agent said.

(South China Morning Post)

Hong Kong property fire sale: Eric Chu selling hotel, luxury flats after wife Truong My Lan arrested in Vietnam scandal

Chu offloaded a hotel in Tin Hau in June at almost half what he paid in 2017, and sold an under-construction project in Quarry Bay at a big loss

The couple’s remaining commercial properties include the Nexxus Building in Central and several houses in Severn 8, a luxury project on The Peak

A Hong Kong businessman whose wife was arrested in Vietnam has emerged as the latest desperate seller in the city’s increasingly turbulent property market.

Eric Chu is offloading properties ranging from a hotel to luxury flats in Hong Kong, sometimes at a significant loss after his Vietnamese wife, Truong My Lan, became embroiled in one of the most high-profile scandals in the Southeast Asian nation.

The couple have commercial real estate valued at about HK$8 billion (US$1 billion) in the city after already selling at least HK$1 billion worth of properties in the past few months.

While the sales are more likely the result of individual financial problems, the low transaction prices threaten to dampen sentiment in Hong Kong’s already weak market.

Chu offloaded a hotel in Tin Hau area in June at almost half the price he paid for it in 2017, according to government documents and media reports. In the same month, he sold a project under construction to provide residential and commercial space in Quarry Bay for HK$412 million to local developer Wang On Properties. That is much less than the HK$678 million that he reportedly paid for the asset in 2018.

The couple’s remaining commercial properties include Nexxus Building in the heart of Central which counts the Hong Kong Bankers Club as a tenant; two commercial buildings in the central business area; and several houses in Severn 8, a luxury project on The Peak. A buyer has offered to pay more than HK$6 billion for Nexxus Building, Sing Tao reported recently.

All of Chu’s properties are open to offers, according to several property agents. The assets are either held by him, Lan, their daughters or associates with ties to their companies.

The couple began actively investing in Hong Kong’s property market in the mid-2000s, buying everything from houses on The Peak to skyscrapers. Now they’re selling into a commercial property market that is at its worst in almost a decade.

The fire sale coincides with a number of distressed properties that are on the market, including those formerly owned by beleaguered Chinese developers. China Evergrande Group’s creditors have yet to find a buyer for its Hong Kong headquarters almost a year after seizing it. Property tycoon Chen Hongtian also had a commercial building taken by a creditor, which put it up for sale recently.

Hong Kong office values have declined about 35 per cent from their peak in 2018, according to an international property agency. The city’s overall vacancy rate was almost 15 per cent in June, more than three times higher than in 2019, the agency’s data show. With interest rates rising along with supply, investors have little appetite to purchase Hong Kong’s office blocks.

It’s not easy to sell in the luxury residential market either. The upscale sector saw transaction volume decline by 24 per cent in the second quarter from the first three months of the year, according to another international property agency. Sustained high interest rates, stock market turbulence and a lack of affluent mainland Chinese buyers contributed to the fall, the firm said. Savills expects distressed sales to dominate the market with few transactions and volatile prices in the near future.

Lan, chairman of Vietnam developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, was arrested in October along with three other people including the group’s CEO on suspicion of appropriating trillions of dong in 2018 and 2019, according to a police statement.

The company did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

The 66-year-old started selling cosmetics at the age of 16 and met Chu in Vietnam. The two got married and went into the restaurant and hotel business before moving into real estate investing.

Founded by Lan in 1991, Van Thinh Phat Group was the first private company in Ho Chi Minh City, according to the company’s website. VTP Group’s developments span residential properties, offices, hotels and shopping centres, including a suspended US$6 billion project called Saigon Peninsula with Malaysian billionaire Kok-Thay Lim’s Genting Group.

Once featured as a philanthropic socialite by Vietnam’s Communist Party media, the owner of one of the country’s top skyscrapers has seen assets related to more than 700 VTP Group units frozen by Vietnamese authorities since Lan’s arrest, dealing a blow to the group’s business and adding a cash strain to the family.

(South China Morning Post)

For more information of Office for Lease at Nexxus Building please visit: Office for Lease at Nexxus Building

For more information of Grade A Office for Lease in Central please visit: Grade A Office for Lease in Central

醫管局大手承租九龍灣啟匯 涉10萬呎樓面業界料每月150萬

資本策略旗下九龍灣甲廈啟匯，錄1宗大手承租，醫院管理局一口氣承租該廈達10萬方呎樓面，為今年以來九龍東最大宗甲廈租賃，業界預期月租約150萬。

九龍灣臨澤街8號啟匯，前身為傲騰廣場，於資本策略為首的財團購入後，進行大幅翻新，最新獲醫管局承租2層半樓面，合共約10萬方呎，市場人士指，醫管局承租低層樓面，由於大手承租，預期呎租約15元，月租約150萬，較同廈呎租16至18元，有一定折讓。

資策鍾楚義：帶動區內租務

資本策略主席兼執行董事鍾楚義表示，是次租賃為該區甲廈租賃市場打下強心針，帶動區內租務。他又說，目前列入九龍中聯網的伊利沙伯醫院，為九龍區主要大型醫院，啟德新急症醫院落成後，政府將伊利沙伯醫院大部分服務，搬至啟德新急症醫院，醫管局選址啟匯設立全新辦公室，料將成為該聯網主要辦公地方，事實上，項目鄰近香港兒童醫院，以及興建中的啟德新急症醫院。該廈辦公大樓全層樓面由2.5萬至4萬方呎不等，吸引銀行、科技、媒體及電訊中心以及共享工作間等進駐。

市場人士指，啟匯近期租賃包括29樓部分，建築面積約13493方呎，以每呎18元租出，該廈13樓2號單位，建築面積約18582方呎，以每呎16元租出。

近期呎租介乎16至18元

根據一間外資代理行資料顯示，今年第一季寫字樓查詢量和預約參觀有所增加，第二季增長勢頭放緩，導致甲廈整體空置率升至15%，首季整體商廈租金下跌2%，不過，該行表示，踏入第二季，新租賃查詢增加，受惠地區包括中環及尖沙咀，東九龍呎租低水，相信已跌至谷底，或離谷底不遠，該行預期，租金將於今年第四季回穩，預計全年甲廈租金持平或錄正增長，全年整體增幅2%。

(星島日報)

更多啟匯寫字樓出租樓盤資訊請參閱：啟匯寫字樓出租

更多九龍灣區甲級寫字樓出租樓盤資訊請參閱：九龍灣區甲級寫字樓出租

創豪坊減價55%3日沽9單位

理想集團減價55%，推售九龍灣活化項目 Megacube 創豪坊6樓，沽售9個餘貨單位，套現約4220萬，整個項目累計賣樓收益達1.88億，為東九工商物業重新定價，目前區內工商物業出現封盤及減價求售個案。

呎價介乎5391至5841元

有代理表示，九龍灣宏光道8號創豪坊6樓全層，業主理想集團減價推售餘貨9個單位，成交價約441.4萬至532.6萬，呎價5391元至5841元，減幅達55%，短短3日售罄，套現約4220萬。

該代理補充指，當中5個連約單位，回報約4.73厘，買家多屬投資者。最高成交價單位面積988方呎，成交價約532.6萬，呎價約5391元，連約售出，月租約2.1萬，租期至2025年初，回報約4.73厘，買家為投資者。

套現4220萬

代理又指出，今番售出的9個單位後，整個項目共為理想集團帶來約1.88億收益，該6樓共提供27個寫字樓及8個會議室，2017年4月購入價約1.68億，拆售後帳面獲利約2000萬。

該代理預期，創豪坊餘貨減價，將為東九龍工商廈重新訂價，二手業主倍添壓力，個別連約單位業主封盤，靜觀後市，部分業主進一步擴大議幅至10%，未來兩個月區內工商廈料出現折讓潮，料擴大至20%至30%始獲承接。

帳面仍獲利2000萬

創豪坊位於宏光道8號，樓高9層，前身巨昇中心，在活化工廈計劃下改建創豪坊，並於2017年拆售，呎價由9000至逾10000元，理想集團當年購入6樓全層，呎價約8210元。

(星島日報)

柴灣利眾街2廈 重建新式工廈

位於港島東面的柴灣工業區，近年陸續有不少工廈展開重建，包括興勝創建  (00896) 積極就區內利眾街2幢工廈目前已經展開重建，改作新式工廈用途，提供約24.7萬平方呎樓面。

柴灣屬於住宅及工廈混合發展的社區，分別有利眾街及祥利街一帶，以及碼頭區的兩個工業區，其中利眾街工業區鄰近港鐵柴灣站，範圍約44.7萬平方呎，屬於小型工業區，由31幢工廈組成，大部分屬於老齡工廈，業權亦比較分散，只有5至6幢屬於單一業權。

利眾街18號樓面增4成

近年興勝創建先後以合共近17億元購入位於利眾街14及16號的德昌廣場，以及利眾街18號的美利倉大廈，並陸續申請進行重建，目前已經獲批正在展開重建，均將會重建成為新式工廈，合共將提供約24.7萬平方呎樓面。

當中利眾街18號美利倉大廈，佔地約6,685平方呎，目前為16層高工廈，於1980年落成，樓齡接近40年，原本於2015年由迷你倉集團以約3.95億元購入作營運，總樓面6.8萬平方呎，及後再由興勝創建以約7.35億元購入。

及後，興勝創建等申請放寬地積比率至14.4倍重建，擬興建1幢26層高的新式工廈，作為非污染工業用途，可建樓面約9.6萬平方呎，相較原有樓面6.8萬平方呎，增加4成多樓面。

德昌廣場放寬地積比

至於德昌廣場由興勝與南豐合作發展，原本屬於1幢舊式工廈，但原業主德昌電機在過去幾年成功全幢改裝成11層高的商廈，總樓面面積約9.6萬平方呎。興勝與南豐以約9.48億元購入後，便申請放寬地積比率由12倍增加20%至14.4倍，以地盤面積約10,515平方呎計算，可重建1幢28層高，非污染工業用途，即新式工廈，總樓面約15.14萬平方呎，較現有樓面多出逾58%。

另外，位於利眾街34號的寶源東丞工業樓，數年前則簽訂特別豁免書，可增加作食肆、展覽廳、辦公室、商店及娛樂場所等10多項用途，大廈地盤面積約9,279平方呎，若作銀座式商廈發展，以地積比率15倍計算，預計可提供逾11萬平方呎樓面。

(經濟日報)