Price cuts prop up secondary home sales

Hong Kong's 10 major housing estates saw numbers of secondary deals rebound to double digits over the weekend from a week ago, thanks to price cuts by sellers.

Centaline Property reported 10 deals in 10 blue-chip estates over the weekend, up 1.5 times from a week earlier.

Homeowners are giving in and cutting their prices amid the recent quiet secondary market to attract buyers, which is driving a rebound in transactions, said Louis Chan Wing-kit, the Asia-Pacific vice-chairman of the residential division at Centaline, adding that property prices will continue to consolidate.

This came as indexes compiled by Centaline showed that secondary home prices fell to a nine-week low last week. The Centa-City Leading Index, which reflects the trend of the city's used home prices, dropped 1.43 percent weekly to 144.

In the primary market, Phase IIA of Onmantin, developed by Great Eagle (0041) and MTR Corp (0066), sold five flats via tender yesterday for a total of HK$128 million. Among them, a 1,333-square-foot four-bedroom flat sold for HK$36.81 million, or 27,617 per sq ft.

This came after Wheelock Properties sold 27 of 154 flats on offer at Park Seasons in Lohas Park on Saturday