“The response today showed that buyers have returned to the market as long as the price is attractive and the location of the projects is convenient,” said Sammy Po, the chief executive of Midland’s residential division. “Total sales of new property this month is expected to increase multiple times that of last month.
“With interest rate cuts expected to be launched later this year, the low cost of funding will continue to attract buyers. The worst of the property market in Hong Kong is over, and the overall property market sentiment should continue to improve.”
The project’s popularity emerged after the two developers set the prices of their joint project in the Kai Tak district to match the lowest level in nearly eight years, as discounts were necessary to attract buyers in a housing market slump.
Prices for the units, which are of sizes ranging from 223 to 666 sq ft, varied from HK$4.2 million (US$538,461) to HK$14.28 million. The average price stood at HK$18,026 per square foot after factoring in discounts of up to 18 per cent.
That means the average price of the tower’s units was about a third lower than the April 2022 average price of HK$24,833 per square foot, paid by buyers of residential units at the nearby Monaco Marine project.
Azure Forest recorded more than 5,800 orders from prospective buyers as of Saturday, making the weekend’s sale close to 53 times oversubscribed, local media reported.
The 108 units on offer on Sunday include 44 one-bedroom flats, 56 two-bedroom flats and eight three-bedroom flats.
Most buyers bought one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats, with 70 per cent of buyers being end users, while about 30 per cent are buying for investment to enjoy rental yield of about 3 per cent, Po said.
Azure Forest, which has a total of 264 units, will be the first tower in the Kai Tak residential area with a sea view, according to the developers.
The location of Azure Forest has attracted buyers because the former Kai Tak Airport is developing several commercial, retail and office buildings alongside the Kai Tak Sports Park, which is set to open in the first half of next year, Po said.
Kai Tak Sports Park, with facilities including a 50,000-seat main stadium, is near completion and is expected to host Hong Kong’s high profile Rugby Sevens tournament, one of the city’s most popular sporting events, in 2025.
“Investors have positive prospects for the future of Kai Tak district, which is going to have more convenient transport and facilities in the coming years,” he said.
The positive response to Azure Forest’s sale came just a day after homebuyers snapped up all 188 new flats available at The Uppland at the Gold Coast Bay in Tuen Mun, New Territories, which had also offered discounts. The Uppland is a project of Early Light International Holdings, a property developer owned by the tycoon Francis Choi Chee-ming.
The average selling price in The Uppland was about 10 per cent lower than that in a project launched last month in the same neighbourhood.
Last weekend, Pavilia Forest I, another tower of the same project in the Kai Tak district, had sold 186 flats of the 198 units on offer a week earlier after offering an 18 per cent discount.
These discounts have become necessary after official data showed a 30 per cent slump in property transactions in June, the second straight month of declines after the bounce seen in March and April, when the market picked up briefly in response to the scrapping of a stamp duty tax in February.
Transactions in residential units fell 30.5 per cent in June from a month earlier to 3,856 deals, while the total sales value shrank by 35 per cent to HK$34.5 billion, according to data released by the Land Registry. Residential property deals fell 35 per cent in May from April.