Sellers slash prices as new mortgages plunge

Prices continued to fall at Hong Kong's major housing estates as new mortgage loans in October fell by about a fifth over the previous month.

Kornhill in Quarry Bay reported a deal of a three-bedroom unit for HK$6.8 million, or HK$11,409 per sq ft, after the seller cut the asking price by HK$700,000.

The latest transaction is about 14 percent lower than earlier this month, when a homeowner sold a similar flat for HK$7.88 million, or HK$13,221 per sq ft.

Meanwhile, local real estate agency Centaline Property said it aims to cut over 30 percent of the existing 430 shops amid the sluggish market, after closing about 20 branches since August.

Further, new mortgage loans with mortgage insurance fell 22.4 percent to HK$6.67 billion in October from the previous month, falling three months in a row, according to the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation.

And the number of new mortgage loans with insurance slid for the fifth five consecutive month, down by 6.3 percent monthly to 2,800 in October.

Centaline Mortgage Broker expected the number of such mortgage loans will drop 25 percent for the whole year from a year earlier.

In the primary market, Henderson Land Development (0012) put the first batch of 23 units in Baker Circle Euston in Hung Hom for sale this Friday, with a discounted price starting from HK$4.59 million and about 10 times oversubscribed for 245 cheques as of last Sunday.

And University Heights in Mid-levels, developed by Chinachem, saw a three-bedroom flat with a car-parking space traded for HK$73 million, or HK$46,086 per sq ft.

Separately, the retender for the Artist Square Towers Project in the West Kowloon Cultural District received at least one submission before it closed yesterday with Sun Hung Kai Properties (0016) confirming it had submitted a bid.