Seasons Place ups prices again as flats sell out

Wheelock Properties raised the average prices for flats at Seasons Place in Lohas Park for a third consecutive time to HK$15,412 per square foot after discounts, but the increase narrowed to 2.1 percent.

The fourth price list has 244 flats costing between HK$4.52 million and HK$12.61 million after discounts, with prices ranging from HK$14,047 to HK$19,379 per square foot.

Built by Wheelock Properties and MTR Corporation (0066), Seasons Place received 11,536 checks last week for the first batch of 368 flats, making them 30 times oversubscribed.

In the first round of sales, all 368 flats sold out in a day on Saturday, with developer raking in around HK$2.36 billion.

The remaining 282 flats go on sale on Wednesday.

The first list was priced at a five-year low for Tseung Kwan O but the second and third lists were priced 3.2 percent higher over the previous ones.

Wheelock said that following the scrapping of property cooling measures in the city, it has sold 568 homes including the 368 flats at Seasons Place in just 25 days, worth a total of HK$6 billion.

Elsewhere in the primary market, Centralcon Properties sold five flats at The Arles, in Sha Tin over the weekend, cashing in more than HK$48 million.

Since the government scrapped all stamp duties property sales on February 28, the market for new homes has been lifted by pent-up demand from Hongkongers and non-locals.

Ricky Wong Kwong-yiu, the executive director of Wheelock Properties, said about 60 percent of the buyers at Seasons Place had bought their homes for living.

But though demand has soared, prices haven’t bounced back to peak levels. The market is expected to have more than 40,000 new homes, and these inventories will take two or three years to sell. So for now, property developers are expected to continue with a “low price, high volume” strategy.

Meanwhile, the secondary market continued to slump.

The 10 major housing estates tracked by Centaline Property Agency recorded 19 deals over the weekend, down by 32 percent weekly, as buyers flocked to new projects.

The 10 major estates tracked by Midland Realty reported 21 deals, down by 25 percent weekly.

Among these deals, a mainland family bought a flat at Fanling Town Centre for HK$4.35 million, with the seller, who bought the flat four years ago, suffering a loss of 13.8 percent.