Flats at Kowloon Godown go down in size but up in number

Wheelock Properties has submitted a new redevelopment plan for Kowloon Godown in Kowloon Bay to the Town Planning Board to build 1,782 residential flats but with smaller sizes.

Nearly 1,000 units have been added to the 784 flats that were approved 10 years ago, but the average size of each unit will shrink 56 percent to 465 square feet.

The developer wants to build seven 28-story buildings on the 165,812 sq ft site, providing a total gross floor area of 829,059 sq ft.

The project is located on Kai Hing Road, near the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal.

Managing director Ricky Wong Kwong-yiu said the company has collected over HK$20 billion in the first seven months of 2021, selling 1,165 flats.

He expected the company to break its sales record of HK$26 billion and said overall property prices will rise 5 percent by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the Land Registry recorded 9,957 sale and purchase agreements for all building units received for registration in July, up 6.1 percent from June and 31.4 percent higher year-on-year.

The total amount for sale and purchase agreements in July was HK$94 billion, which rose 1.5 percent from June and 35.6 percent from 2020.

In the commercial property market, Swire Properties (1972) said the overall Hong Kong occupancy rate for its offices remained at 96 percent in the first half.

The developer said its Pacific Place's office occupancy rate rose to 98 percent, while the rent dropped 11 percentage points. And for its Taikoo Place project, the rental reversions remained positive.

However, the company believes the increased availability and subdued demand has exerted downward pressure on rentals, especially in Central and the Pacific Place portfolio.

Before the completion of Two Taikoo Place, Julius Baer, a Swiss private bank, had committed to four floors (approximately 92,000 sq ft) and will be the first anchor tenant of the building, the company said.

Link Reit (0823) meanwhile said the number of visitors at its shopping malls had returned to pre-pandemic levels and it believes the positive impact of government coupons could last between 12 to18 months.

The company revealed that over 60 percent of its shop tenants have installed e-payment apparatuses which have been adopted by mall tenants, but the acceptance in wet markets is relatively lower.