The Reserve flats fly off the shelves

Staff reporter

Home hunters snapped up as many as 233 new homes over the weekend with The Reserve taking the lion's share of sales ahead of the Lunar New Year.

The Reserve sold as many as 224 of the 280 flats on offer, making it the hottest new project with the most number of sales so far this year.

Offering a total of 631 flats, The Reserve is the second phase of Gold Coast Bay in Tuen Mun, developed by Early Light International Estates.

The developer, founded by "Toy King" Francis Choi Chee-ming, had received more than 4,500 checks for the 280 flats, making them 15 times oversubscribed.

A British-Chinese buyer paid more than HK$7 million in cash for two flats, saying he might either use them as his residences or rent them out.

The flats range in size from 304 to 655 square feet, with prices starting from HK$2.42 million after discounts.

Nearly 40 percent of the flats on offer cost less than HK$3 million after discounts.

Apart from The Reserve's robust sales, nine other new homes were sold.

Beacon Peak, Shimao's (0813) luxury residential project near Kowloon Tong, sold three flats by tender for HK$93.66 million.

Meanwhile, a one-bedroom flat at Double Coast I in Kai Tak sold for HK$5.71 million.

The project is jointly developed by Wheelock Properties, Henderson Land (0012), China Overseas (0688), and New World Development (0017).

And in Yuen Long, Asia Standard International (0129) sold five flats at High Park II for more than HK$21 million.

In the secondary market, Hong Kong's 10 major housing estates saw seven deals over the weekend, five more than a week earlier, while four estates recorded no transactions, Centaline Property said.

Louis Chan Wing-kit, Asia Pacific vice chairman of the residential division at Centaline, said overall sentiment remains positive, with transactions hitting a five-week high.

With US President Donald Trump taking office today, the market will be waiting to see his policies and stance on interest rates, Chan said, adding that Trump is expected to send positive signals to the market.

But with the Lunar New Year fast approaching, buyers and sellers of second-hand homes are expected to keep away from the market until after the festivities, he said.