罗素街8号18楼1.07亿沽

歌手麦浚龙父亲、中建富通 (00138) 主席麦绍棠原持有铜锣湾银座式商厦英皇鐘錶珠宝中心2层，持货8年后，今年内先后沽货，刚以1.07亿元卖出18楼全层，最终两层共蚀8050万元离场。

据了解，铜锣湾罗素街8号英皇鐘錶珠宝中心18楼，建筑面积约4718方呎，原以1.2亿元放售，最终以1.07亿元售出，呎价约22679元，买卖透过转让公司股份形式进行。该层现由美容中心以每月16.5万元租用，新买家可享约1.9厘回报。

麦绍棠持货8年损失4150万

根据资料显示，麦绍棠于2014年初以约1.49亿元购入上址，持货8年，账面亏损4150万元，贬值约28%。

里昂证券旗下基金在2013年底斥资约18亿元购入铜锣湾罗素街8号5楼至29楼共22层楼面，其后在2014年2月起拆售。麦绍棠属当年大手买家之一，共斥近2.98亿元购入18楼及19楼两层。

好景不常，零售市道其后自高位大幅滑落，该厦租金一直低迷，租赁回报欠佳，麦绍棠2018年起已有意放售该2层，直至今年才先后售出。

港铁 (00066) 前主席马时亨长女刘马露明及其丈夫刘仲恒于今年5月斥资1.1亿元购入19楼，麦绍棠账面损手3900万元离场，连同最新售出的18楼，麦绍棠共套现2.17亿元，账面合共蚀8050万元或约27%。

(信报)

沙田显和里地招标 估值达8亿

沙田显和里住宅地昨起招标，佔地约14,890平方呎，可作为私人住宅或商住用途，将于9月16日 (周五) 截标。市场估值约6亿至8亿元，每平方呎楼面地价约6,700元至9,000元。

地皮邻近显径邨，若发展为纯住宅用途，可建总楼面涉约89,339平方呎，倘作商住发展 (「非工业 (不包括私人住宅、仓库、酒店及加油站)」用途)，即商场部分的最高总楼面则约5.66万平方呎。换言之，计入住宅部分的总楼面 (约5.36万平方呎) 后，可建总楼面达约11万平方呎。住宅单位实用面积需达到约280平方呎或以上，项目亦需于2027年6月30日或之前入伙。

元朗牛潭尾地 申建安老院

此外，元朗牛潭尾夏威夷豪园以北的一幅住宅用地，最新向城规会申请改划为「政府、机构或社区」用地，地盘面积约7,926平方呎，现为「住宅 (丙类)」用途，申请人拟以地积比率约7.33倍，申请改划发展1幢楼高10层的安老院舍，提供142张床位，总楼面面积约5.81万平方呎。

(经济日报)

Hong Kong finance chief says ‘no plan or intention’ for authorities to either scrap property cooling measures or intervene in market

Financial Secretary Paul Chan says government cannot see any risk of property market ‘falling off a cliff’, adds policy not affected by ‘short-term fluctuations’

Authorities ‘cautiously optimistic’ regarding performance of local economy during second half of 2022, provided epidemic situation is under control, he adds

There is “no plan or intention” for the Hong Kong government to either scrap cooling measures or intervene in the property market despite short-term fluctuations, the city’s finance chief has said.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Sunday also said that while it was possible the city would raise the prime interest rate if the United States continued with its own increase next month, he hoped the deposit rate would also be increased.

“We have no plans, no intention [to support the residential property market]. I don’t think there is such a need. This is very clear. I have studied many figures and different situations in the property market,” Chan told a radio programme.

“We can’t see the property market has any risk of ‘falling off a cliff’. Often there are slight fluctuations. Our policy direction and aims are not affected by short-term fluctuations.”

With authorities aiming to help residents buy their first flat, Chan said cooling measures for the property market needed to be maintained.

The government has implemented cooling measures for more than a decade, including the buyer’s stamp duty – a 15 per cent tax on property transactions imposed on non-permanent residents – as well as the double stamp duty, a tax imposed on residential purchases except by first-time buyers.

“The government has been doing it right and there is a need to continue,” he said.

The remarks from the finance chief followed a period of falling house prices. The latest data from the Rating and Valuation Department showed the price index for lived-in homes had dipped 1.1 per cent to 380.5 in June, the most since a 1.8 per cent drop in February and reaching its lowest level since December 2020.

The pledge by Chan also came after Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, convenor of the Executive Council, Hong Kong’s key decision-making body, had earlier caused a stir in the market when she told Bloomberg Television the city “may consider waiving extra stamp duty on homes for mainland Chinese buyers as a way to shore up the economy and reverse a brain drain”.

Chan’s office had responded by issuing a statement rejecting the news report, which had triggered a surge in local property developer shares.

He said the property market and the future supply of private flats were both stable, but urged residents to consider the impact of the interest rate increase when buying properties, especially since the US could continue to increase its own rate next month.

“The city’s prime interest rate will possibly be raised. To be reasonable and fair, not only the increase of the prime rate, we hope to see that the deposit interest rate will also be raised,” the financial secretary said.

Chan also said authorities remained “cautiously optimistic” regarding the performance of the local economy during the second half of 2022, provided the epidemic situation was under control.

The government had ramped up its epidemic-response capabilities to allow for more economic activities to continue in the city, as well as reducing the hotel quarantine period to minimise any inconveniences for travellers, he said.

Under the current entry regime, overseas arrivals must undergo quarantine at a designated hotel for three days, before undergoing four days of “medical surveillance” at either their homes or another hotel with limited freedom of movement.

But the financial secretary added that it was too early to say whether Hong Kong would scrap its hotel quarantine requirement in the short term, explaining that the administration would need to strike a balance between fully reopening the border with mainland China and the rest of the world.

(South China Morning Post)

Young homebuyers snap up Sun Hung Kai Properties’ Novo Land flats as steep discounts offset higher mortgage rate

Buyers, most of them young and purchasing homes for the first time, bought 371 of 383 units on offer in the third phase on Sunday

First-time buyers continued to snap up flats at the popular project in Tuen Mun, shrugging off concerns about higher mortgage rates

Young homebuyers continued to snap up flats at the popular Novo Land project in Tuen Mun on Sunday as steep discounts outweighed concerns around rising mortgage rates.

Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) sold 371 of 383 units on offer in the third phase of its Novo Land project, according to agents.

“The sales are ideal,” a property agent said.

Around 80 per cent of the buyers on Sunday were young, first-time buyers, attracted by discounts of up to 20 per cent, agents said.

Today’s strong sales came after the second batch of units at Novo Land sold out within just four hours last Wednesday. The developer’s low pricing strategy has at least partially offset the impact of rising interest rates and attracted hordes of young buyers driven by a strong desire to get a foothold in Hong Kong’s notoriously expensive property market.

Homebuilders in the city are speeding up their sales in a bid to get ahead of the interest rate increases. It is expected that more banks will follow HSBC, which last week became the first of the city’s major lenders to raise its mortgage rates.

The bank raised the cap for its Hibor-linked home loans to 2.75 per cent from 2.5 per cent for new applications on Thursday. Hibor (the Hong Kong interbank offered rate) is the interest rate banks charge each other for borrowing money.

Despite this, the attractive prices on offer are offsetting the relatively weak sentiment among buyers, the agent said.

“If the sellers are willing to lower their prices, there is still demand, as many buyers were taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude,” the agent said. “If there are cheap properties, people are still wiling to enter the market.”

The average price of the Novo Land units on Sunday was HK$14,429 (US$1,839) per square foot. The flats – ranging from 220 sq ft to 708 sq ft – were priced between HK$3.4 million and HK$9.5 million after discount, or between HK$13,039 per sq ft and HK$17,233 per sq ft.

The project has proved popular, with each previous batch of flats selling out since sales were launched on July 31. The total value of the units on sale on Sunday was more than HK$2.6 billion.

Novo Land comprises 4,639 units in total, to be developed in six phases. It is slated for completion in June, 2023. There were 824 units in the first phase, and 800 in the second.

Mortgage payments linked to Hibor have been on the rise since March. The one-month Hibor hit 1.9 per cent on Wednesday, the highest in two years following an 11-day rally.

The effective mortgage rate – 1.3 percentage points above Hibor – has climbed from 1.43 per cent in January to about 2.5 per cent.

More property developers are expected to offer discounts to boost sales to counter the impact of the higher interest rates, while homeowners will continue to lower their asking prices in the secondary market.

Housing prices will stabilise or even edge up in the fourth quarter, if the government pushes policies that buoy economic growth and Hong Kong fully reopens its international borders, the agent said.

“But if the interest rate hikes are faster than expected or rise by a bigger-than-expected degree, it will have a negative impact on the housing market,” the agent said.