No. of view: 1155    Reply: 4

Investors prefer low-priced new flats rather than office and shop premises

Damon Ho

Since the withdrawal of the cooling measures, the transaction volume of the property market has increased significantly. Under this condition, developers have been speeding up to launch new projects to attract potential buyers. The price of these new flats was reduced to the price of newly completed properties, resulting in a lot of public attention. The removal of all the cooling measures, all additional property taxes would be cancelled immediately, and the value of property investment had reemerged. Consequently, investors have also been attracted to reenter the property market. Recently, an investor purchased twenty-four units in a new development, and it affirmed that this investor has a strong faith in the property market.

The removal of cooling measures is beneficial for investors because their savings funds can be invested in the real estate market again. In the past few years, a large number of high-profile investors purchased a large amount of commercial and retail properties with highly leveraged loans. Until now, the valuation of these properties has been depreciating by more than 30% to 40%. Thus, these investors are currently attempting to sell those premises to reduce the loan ratio so that they could avoid falling into the calling list of bank loan repayment.

Except of the above-mentioned group of investors, there are still a group of investors who had avoided entering the market by purchasing the premises at soaring prices. Nowadays, they have taken the advantage of the removal of cooling measures to re-enter the property investment market. They will still pay attention to the retail market, however some of their spare funds are ready to be invested in residential properties, particularly the low-priced first-hand properties.

This group of investors specifically select this type of property, mainly because these current prices of first-hand properties have been reduced by 10% to 20% compared to one year ago. Furthermore, there are a large number of newly arrived China professionals who have a strong demand for leasing premises. Therefore, the rental yield of these flats is guaranteed. In fact, the return of these premises can generate 3% more, so the investment value is acceptable.

At present, the trend of foreign capital withdrawing has not changed, so the vacancy rate of Grade A commercial buildings has exceeded 10%, and the rental and sales prices keep on falling. Therefore, investors had lost interest in investing in this type of property. The market conditions of shops are even worse. There are also vacant shops in Des Voeux Road Central, and a two-dish meal boxes’ restaurant will open its branch in this area. The rents of some shops have fallen by more than 70%, and shop prices have dropped sharply following the falling rents. The situation is the same for luxurious homes. In the leasing market, a sharp decline of foreign renters caused vacancy rates to increase. Moreover, China's high rollers have turned to selling from buying due to lack of funds. Therefore, the price of luxurious houses was also falling.

In the current situation, it is difficult to earn money from wealthy buyers, so investors are aiming at the low-priced first-hand property market to safeguard their investment. Additionally, they are also seeking an appreciation in the future.

 
I want to leave a message
Nickname
Message
/ Opinion
Captcha
 
Member Login
Login ID / Nickname
Password
1. The secondary market has seen a surge in demand 2024-03-16 15:06:19

The secondary market has seen a surge in demand for flats in the lower price range following the easing of measures imposed at the height of the property boom to curb speculation.

Many home buyers and investors are actively searching for properties, leading to situations where vendors are looking for higher bids even with an offer in hand and some buyers are resorting to confirmor sales.

2. Economic growth will be slower than 2023 2024-03-17 13:41:37

Whilst Hong Kong is expected to benefit from lower rates in 2024, economic growth will still be slower than a year prior, says Natixis Asia Research.

Tax is one major issue that Hong Kong will likely face in 2024. “In the medium run, Hong Kong’s fiscal situation could become an issue since the largest source of tax income is increasingly uncertain, including land sales,” warned Natixis Chief Economist Asia Pacific Alicia Garcia-Herrero.

“The real estate sector is still suffering. The reduction in the stamp duty may help increase transactions but not necessarily lift prices since structural factors are pushing down demand, especially demographics,” Garcia-Herrero added.

3. Hong Kong's total deals fell 38% YeY 2024-03-18 21:41:17

Hong Kong's total deals in the first two months of 2024, including mergers & acquisitions, private equity and venture financing deals, fell 28.3% YoY.

Data from GlobalData showed that deal activity also fell for the whole of Asia-Pacific (APAC) by 19.6% YoY to 1,843 deals.

Apart from Hong Kong, China (-23%), India (-12.9% YoY), Japan (-23.5%), Australia (-3.2%), Singapore (-13.2%), South Korea (-12.2%), Malaysia (-32.4%), Hong Kong (-28.3%), Indonesia (-38.1%) and Thailand (-28.6%) saw declines in deal volume.

4. HK is home to over 2,700 single-family offices 2024-03-21 19:05:26

Hong Kong is home to over 2,700 single-family offices (SFOs), a Deloitte market study commissioned by InvestHK revealed.

The study categorised these SFOs into four varying wealth brackets. The data showed that within the US$10m-US$30m wealth tier, there are 535 SFOs. 

The number increases in the subsequent wealth levels, with 601 SFOs in the US$30m-US$50m tier, 682 in the US$50m-US$100m bracket, and 885 in the US$100m+ tier.