Foreclosures soar 27pc past two-year highs

Nearly 100 properties have foreclosed in Hong Kong, hitting a more than two-year high, as home-buyers failed to repay the mortgage despite the improving unemployment rate.

The number of foreclosures rose by 20, or 27 percent month-on-month, to 94 so far this month. Eleven of them are residential units. The total value of the foreclosures is more than HK$210 billion, based on the asking price.

Three units at Cullinan West in Sham Shui Po have become foreclosures after the mainland owner bought them at HK$123 million three years ago. Savills has launched the three flats to sell by tender by January 14 next year.

Also in the residential market, CSI Properties (0497) and Asia Standard (0129) have appointed Centaline Property to sell a residential site at 92 Repulse Bay Road with an asking price of HK$950 million.

Meanwhile, overall property prices in Hong Kong fell by just 0.2 percent this year despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Centaline Property said.

Louis Chan Wing-kit, chief executive of Centaline Asia-Pacific residential operations, expects prices to rebound 2-3 percent at first next year and then rise 7 percent by the end of 2021. Luxury property prices are expected to rise 8-10 percent.

In the commercial market, New World Development (0017) sold 44 offices in its Grade A office building at 888 Lai Chi Kok Road within one hour, with an investor spending more than HK$300 million for a full-floor unit. The developer sold 74 units in less than one week, pocketing more than HK$1.3 billion.

In the overseas market, home prices in Sydney are expected to rise at the fastest pace in the world, up 12 percent this year, while Hong Kong's home prices are projected to climb 1 percent, said Midland Global.