Owners insist while buyers wait and see, leading second hand property market get into stalemate.
(By Li Zhitian)
In the end of 2018, second hand property market appeared many transactions in large price cut, some price cut among were even up to 20%, such as transactions in Belvedere Garden in Tsuen Wan, LOHAS Park in Tseung Kwan O, and Mei Foo Sun Chuen. No deal would be made if price cut less than 10%, and transactions with price cut mainly happened among one bedroom and two bedrooms units that are suitable to the first housing people, but most owners are not willing to decrease price leading buyers lose desire to enter the market, therefore, transaction volume was less than that of same period since last weekend to Christmas holidays, agent in the industry pointed.
The property market is still in downward, and current prospective buyers in the second-hand market are “waiting for the price reduction” , so they would rather purchase first hand new house which has large discount unless there are special second hand units in case of hard to seeking, otherwise they will continue to wait and see, the Chief Executive Officer of Ricacorp, Liao Weiqiang expressed. Price cut ranges are different in each district. Properties in relatively large price cut are one-bedroom and two-bedrooms units that suitable to the first housing people, which will not easy to reach the deal if the reduction is less than 10%, under the influence from Government’s supply of Green Form Status houses (Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Pilot Scheme), projects suitable for the first housing people, and HOS.
Bu Shaoming: Two types of owners are willing to cut prices substantially.
On the other hand, the attitude of the owners is still generally aggressive. The second-hand property transactions from last weekend to the Christmas holiday were very few, because no many owners willing to reduce the price and there were external disadvantages, further more, most of them were price reduction cases, so transaction volume definitely has fallen compared to that in the same period last year, although there are no specific data yet, Liao Weiqiang pointed.
Most of the prospective buyers and owners were still traveled out of Hong Kong during the Christmas holidays, and the remaining prospective buyers were wait and see being affected by the Sino-us trade war, leading the second-hand property market was dull, the Chief Executive Officer of Residential Department of Midland, Bu Shaoming expressed. The target of these potential buyers are cheap or fresh hot units since no body see the market trend. Most transaction prices recently were 15% to 20% lower than the high level, and a number of cheap units have been digested in the market.
Only two types of owners are willing to cut prices substantially, the first of whom are owners who borrow too much and have financial problems and the second are owners who change houses, while owners apart from these two types are not willing to significantly reduce the price, especially for financially sound owners, who would rather wait and even rent it out to make up for the mortgage and interest expenses, Bu Shaoming mentioned.
Unit in Grand Horizon was sold in total price cut of HKD 1.45 million.
As for transaction during the holiday, the price cut all reached 10% to 20%. One unit of Harvest Garden in Tuen Mun was recorded transaction at Christmas, which is high-rise room E in block 2 with usable area of 436 square feet, and the owner started to release the price in September this year in HKD 5.4 million, while the price was finally cut by HKD 0.67 million or 12.4% to HKD 4.73 million, with discounted sq ft price in HKD 10,849, Dai Zuqiang from Centaline expressed.
Middle floor Room H in block 5 of Grand Horizon in Tsing Yi was sold at the weekend, which is two bedrooms unit in area of 511 sq ft, and its price was cut to HKD 7.3 million in November then to HKD 7 million in this month from the the original price of HKD 8.2 million in September, while it was finally cut to HKD 6.75 million and sold, with usable area sq ft price in HKD 13,209 and price cut up to HKD 1.45 million or 17.7% after being put on sale for three months, Chen Huilin from Centaline expressed.
Price cut for the first transaction in LINGFENG was more than 20%.
Hot sales of new project in Kwun Tong didn’t warm up the transaction in nearby district. LOHAS Park LINGFENG in Tseung Kwan O recorded its first transaction of this month couple days ago, which was in room C of left side in middle floor of block 7, and it is a three bedrooms unit in usable area of 730 sq ft, the original owner of which put on sale it in HKD 10.5 million this September and finally sold it after cutting price to HKD 8.186 million recently, while the price cut was totally HKD 2.314 million or 22% , with the usable area sq ft price in HKD 11,214, Wu Jinji from Centaline expressed.
In the past, the properties suitable to the first housing people in the Kowloon area were highly sought after but were no longer welcome in the down market, and the owners are still forced to cut prices, Zeng Jiahui from Hong Kong Property expressed. Park Summit in Tai Kok Tsui sold room H in high level of block 2 in earlier, which is open style in usable area of about 274 sqft. This unit was put on sale in HKD 5.8 million and was inquired after three weeks, then it was cut by HKD 0.88 million or 15.2% to about HKD 4.92 million and sold, with usable area sq ft price in about HKD 17,956, Zeng Jiahui said.
Unit from Taikoo Shing was sold in price cut around 20%.
The property price in Hong Kong Island has always been strong, but there are also a few owners who have intention to reduce price. Taikoo Shing in Quarry Bay sold room A in middle floor of SINGAN Pavilion in early by price cut, which is in usable area of 583 sq ft, and the original owner asked for HKD 13 million in November while sold it in HKD 10.8 million recently after price cut of HKD 2.2 million or 16.9%, with usable area sq ft price in HKD 18,525, Zhang Guangyao from Centaline expressed.
