受進出口疲弱等因素影響，第二季本地生產總值增長幅度略為放緩，商廈市場增長勢頭亦明顯減弱。有本港代理行發表的商廈市場報告指出，7月份商廈註冊宗數僅錄49宗，按月減少逾40%，成交量低位徘徊，租售價方面，上月甲廈售價持平，金按月微升0.2%，來自部分擴充搬遷的個案所帶動。

大額欠奉售價下跌

上月50大指標甲廈成交量只有3宗，今年以來最低，由於缺乏大手成交，部分分區售價持續回落，其中港島最弱的是上環，指標甲廈售價按月挫5.5%，最新平均呎價20048元，同區乙廈售價同樣錄跌幅。

上月錄不少搬遷個案，中環長江集團中心二期錄預租，由滙橋資本預租半層樓面，面積約5260方呎，呎租約120元，九龍東亦錄外資企業升級個案，觀塘道348號宏利廣場連錄兩宗租務，美資企業Carter's租用低層全層，涉及面積約3.6萬方呎，另一宗為美資機構Avery Dennison租用約2萬方呎，以上兩宗呎租同為28元。

空置率高見10.5%

空置率高企，全港整體甲廈空置率10.5%，中區、灣仔及銅鑼灣、尖沙咀空置率分別為9.5%、6.7%及7.8%。該行代理指，商廈復甦遜預期，主要受息口高企、投資需求減及吸納速度慢等因素影響，料以上情況令部分投資者觀望，短期內商廈價量齊跌。

(星島日報)

更多長江集團中心二期寫字樓出租樓盤資訊請參閱：長江集團中心二期寫字樓出租

更多中環區甲級寫字樓出租樓盤資訊請參閱：中環區甲級寫字樓出租

更多宏利廣場寫字樓出租樓盤資訊請參閱：宏利廣場寫字樓出租

更多觀塘區甲級寫字樓出租樓盤資訊請參閱：觀塘區甲級寫字樓出租

星光行低層意向價1080萬

有代理稱，尖沙咀星光行低層29及29B室，建築面積約1276方呎，意向價1080萬，每方呎約8464元。

星光行位於尖沙咀梳士巴利道3號，業權分散，物業鄰近天星碼頭，由物業步行至港鐵尖沙咀站L6出口，約5分鐘路程。星光行聚集企業包括升學顧問、會計及旅遊等企業，該廈基座設有中式酒樓及快餐店。

距港鐵站步程5分鐘

星光行較近期成交，包括今年8月，12樓19室，建築面積約715方呎，以900萬成交，平均呎價12587元；今年1月，該廈18樓6室，建築面積920方呎，以1520萬易手，平均呎價16522元。

(星島日報)

更多星光行寫字樓出售樓盤資訊請參閱：星光行寫字樓出售

更多尖沙咀區甲級寫字樓出售樓盤資訊請參閱：尖沙咀區甲級寫字樓出售

商廈港威大廈 中高層租11.1萬

尖沙咀指標商廈港威大廈今年租務理想，消息指，港威大廈一座中高層12室，面積約2,314平方呎，成交呎租約48元，涉及月租約11.1萬元。

另同區康宏廣場中高層17室，面積約2,290平方呎，以每呎約31元租出。

(經濟日報)

更多港威大廈寫字樓出租樓盤資訊請參閱：港威大廈寫字樓出租

更多康宏廣場寫字樓出租樓盤資訊請參閱：康宏廣場寫字樓出租

更多尖沙咀區甲級寫字樓出租樓盤資訊請參閱：尖沙咀區甲級寫字樓出租

‘Always the first’: CK Asset’s history of using discounts to hone its edge, clear inventory to survive Hong Kong’s property market slumps

This week’s The Coast Line II sale is far from the first time the property flagship of Li Ka-shing has used low prices to get attention and clear inventory

‘As a developer you want your money back as soon as possible, and also to get a profit,’ expert says

Tens of thousands of people queued for hours on Saturday to get their hands on something unseen for seven years in Hong Kong: new flats on offer by one of the city’s most renown developers at prices last recorded in 2016.

The crowd started assembling at 8am, a full two hours before CK Asset Holding began offering the first 626 flats at its The Coast Line II apartments project in Yau Tong on the Kowloon peninsula. From the lobby of a shopping centre, the line spilled over a footbridge across a major thoroughfare, ending at a spot in a subway station three hours’ queue away from the sales desk.

By 9pm, CK Asset sold every flat in the current phase for a haul estimated at HK$4.67 billion (US$597 million). The sell-out was almost guaranteed, as 60 buyers had registered to bid for every available flat.

The winning strategy sparked fears among consultants that other developers in Hong Kong would be tempted to follow with even bigger discounts in the third quarter. CK Asset, and the city’s powerful guild of developers allayed concerns that a price war is imminent.

Still, this weekend was just a page out of CK Asset’s play book; the property flagship of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing has used aggressive pricing to draw attention and clear its inventory quickly across every property slump throughout the years.

“When the market is uncertain, CK Asset is always the first to cut prices,” a property agent said. “As a developer, you want your money back as soon as possible, and also to get a profit.”

Developers also need to consider opportunity cost, the agent said. “If they choose to hold inventory, developers will be burnt from two sides. One is the holding cost and the other is the income return that could have been generated from the cash.”

CK Asset made the first splash in 1998 – hot on the heels of the Asian Financial Crisis -when it sold the first phase of its Tierra Verde project in Tsing Yi at a lower-than-market average of HK$4,147 per square foot. The result: A sensational 1,400-unit sell-out on the first day.

Phase II, which launched two months later, was also offered at a low price, helping the developer sell all 1,781 units, most of them on the first day.

“The aftermath of the Asian financial crisis continued for a few years and spilled over to the property market, as the difficult financial environment weighed on sentiments,” another agent said. “But new launches at low prices were still popular, as homebuyers would come out.”

In 2001, CK Asset offered the first 24 flats in the first phase of its Caribbean Coast project in Tung Chung at about 20 per cent cheaper than the neighbourhood’s average price.

Buyers brought their own chairs to camp out at the sales office days before the sale opened on a first-come-first-served basis, the agent said.

Phase II repeated the strategy in 2003, with the first eight flats of the 1,240-unit project offered with 34-per cent discounts.

“The developer offered a few units at a much lower price as a way to test homebuyers’ responses amid a sluggish property market,” the agent said.

The low-price tactic continued to work. In 2009, CK Asset needed only two hours to sell more than 300 units at Le Prestige, the second phase of the massive Lohas Park residential project in Tseung Kwan O, which had a total of 1,688 units.

The developer priced the units in the project at an average of HK$5,500 per square foot, but launched sales at HK$4,692 per square foot for the first 32 units – a 14.7 per cent discount. More than 1,000 buyers showed up at the sales office hoping to snag one of those 32 flats.

In 2014, CK Asset surprised the market again by launching the cheapest new homes available for sale in Hong Kong: a 194 sq ft studio flat at phase I of Mont Vert in Tai Po, priced at HK$1.65 million.

The first 260 units at Mont Vert launched at a price 30 per cent lower than neighbouring new flats, according to a local property agency.

In addition to the cheapest new home, CK Asset also went on to unveil one of the city’s tiniest new flats, a 165 sq ft unit – about the size of a parking space – at Mont Vert II.

Earlier this year, CK Asset slashed prices to clear inventory on two of its projects. The company cut prices for 10 remaining flats at Seaside Sonata in Nam Cheong by 10 to 16 per cent in February. The discount immediately attracted buyers, and the inventory sold out overnight.

Later in March, nearly 5,000 people braved a thunderstorm to queue up in Hung Hom to bid for the first 400 flats in the second phase of the Grand Jeté project in Tuen Mun by CK Asset and Sun Hung Kai Properties. The price was set at an average discount of 17 per cent.

“CK Asset is a fast-asset-turnover developer,” said Raymond Cheng, managing director and head of HK property at CGS-CIMB Securities. “They price their projects according to the market price and do not hold inventory. This is their general sales strategy.”

The Coast Line II is currently under construction, with completion slated for 2025. Its low pricing makes sense given its less convenient location and lack of guaranteed sea view compared to phase I, which has yet to commence selling its 228 units, analysts said.

The Coast Line II is about an eight-minute walk to the Yau Tong subway station. Ko Fai Road is dusty and noisy, as the project is located in an industrial area with trucks lumbering in and out of three cement plants that serve several construction sites nearby.

The Kwun Tong wholesale fish market, located in front of The Coast Line II, will be demolished for the construction of more residential buildings in the future.

The industrial Yau Tong district has been transforming into a residential area in recent years. Occupied and projects that are about to launch total 2,434 units, according to another property agency.

The fact that the area is still under development also justifies the low pricing for The Coast Line II, another agent said. “If it is all built, [The Coast Line II] will not be sold at such a cheap price.”

People choosing the area should be prepared to wait a few years for the district to develop, the agent said. “Yau Tong is in reference to the development in Kai Tak, people are betting on it to become the next central business district,” the agent said.