And Sino Land (0083), which developed the residential project in Wu Kai Shai together with MTR Corp (0066), says it is poised to raise unit prices tomorrow.

Sino said yesterday it sold more than 1,600 units at Lake Silver since Wednesday for an average of about HK$5,500 per square foot.

Salenda Lau, a general manager of sales and marketing at Sino Group, said the company will be raising prices by 2-5 percent.

A block six apartment measuring 2,416 square feet was sold for HK$8,600 psf, Lau noted.

Midland Realty district sales director Ringo Leung estimates more that than 100 Lake Silver homes will be available on the secondary residential market this week, with asking prices 15-20 percent higher than the average HK$4,842 psf for the first batch.

Centaline Property Agency director for New Territories Chris Wong Ho- chung said buyers of about 35 apartments are hoping to sell them for between eight and 10 percent more.

In the near term, "as a bubble mentality has resurfaced in the Hong Kong property market," Citi believes strong liquidity and momentum will spur prices beyond the means of the average household.

As Citi sees the situation, prices are likely to shoot up to levels seen during March 2008. That would represent a 15 percent hike from current levels.

However, "in our view, it will take a relatively long time for current weak economic fundamentals to realign with current property price levels (same as December 2007), or the March 2008 peak," Citi added.

There were around 88 deals in the 10 major housing estates over the weekend, up 41.9 percent from a week earlier. It was the highest level since January last year, according to Centaline.

"Sales of new projects have been satisfactory, and the stock market is picking up," said Louis Chan Wing-kit, managing director of Centaline's residential department. "Buyers are more confident about the property market now,"