HK urban flats now priced at less than $4m

Staff reporter

One can afford to buy a home in an urban area in Hong Kong for less than HK$4 million now, as the city's home prices are still almost 30 percent lower after peaking three years ago.

The Highline in Kennedy Town has just unveiled its first price list of 50 units, with the cheapest at HK$3.89 million.

The project is developed by Right Honour Investments under the Shanghai Commercial Bank.

The average price after discounts stands at HK$21,380 per square foot, the lowest in the district in eight years and about 18 percent lower than the recent average of around HK$26,000 in the West Island, said Midland Realty.

The 50 units are comprised of 40 studios, six one-bedroom and four two-bedroom units, with sizes ranging from 211 to 524 sq ft.

The Highline plans to offer a total of 173 units in a 30-story tower, including 90 studios, 50 one-bedroom, 14 two-bedroom and 19 three-bedroom flats.

Its show hall will be open to the public today and subscriptions will start on Friday, said Sammy Po Siu-Ming, chief executive of Midland Realty's residential division.

In Cheung Sha Wan, The Vim has priced its seven high-rise flats in its sixth price list at a low of HK$3.41 million after discounts. The cheapest unit is a 201-sq-ft studio costing HK$17,003 per sq ft.

The sizes of these seven units vary from 199 to 289 sq ft, with an average price of HK$16,656 per square foot.

The Vim is jointly developed by Carrianna Group (0126) and Choice Holdings.

It comes as the city's private home prices have lost 28 percent from its peak in September 2021, though it rebounded 2 percent in the past three months after the removal of housing curbs in late February.

Henderson Land Development (0012) said The Haddon, its redevelopment project in Hung Hom, has received 272 cheques as of yesterday for 92 units in its first price list, around twice oversubscribed.

Henderson plans to start the first round of sales by the end of this week or the middle of next week.

In other news, the value of registered residential property sales jumped 45 percent year-on-year to HK$53.4 billion despite a 31 percent fall month-on-month, data from the Land Registry showed.

The number of contracts amounted to 5,546, 38.5 percent higher than one year ago but 35 percent lower than one month earlier.