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Cheung Kong offers discounts to HK buyers as supply rises

HONG KONG — Cheung Kong Holdings, the Hong Kong developer controlled by Asia’s richest man, Mr Li Ka-shing, is offering discounts of up to 16 per cent at its latest residential project in the city as developers accelerate sales this year.

HONG KONG — Cheung Kong Holdings, the Hong Kong developer controlled by Asia’s richest man, Mr Li Ka-shing, is offering discounts of up to 16 per cent at its latest residential project in the city as developers accelerate sales this year.

Builders including Cheung Kong and Sun Hung Kai Properties are competing for buyers in the world’s most expensive housing market as government curbs cooled prices and transaction volume. Prices, which Barclays forecasts will drop at least 30 per cent by 2016, are also under pressure from increasing supply in coming years.

Cheung Kong Holdings has priced its first batch of 350 units at its City Point project in the New Territories area of Tsuen Wan at HK$9,062 (S$1,465) to HK$14,328 per square foot, compared with recent transaction prices of HK$9,600 to HK$13,000 per square foot in nearby areas, the South China Morning Post reported.

Cheung Kong executive director Justin Chiu Kwok-hung said the prices had been designed to help buyers who are looking to upgrade to bigger units.

“We are offering the first batch of units at lower prices in view of the government’s proposed easing of stamp duty rules to help upgraders. We also want our buyers to be happy with the price,” he said.

Touted as the Cheung Kong’s biggest Hong Kong housing project in two years, the 1,717 units at the joint project with Nan Fung Group will have a price tag of between HK$7,634 and HK$12,071 per square foot after the discounts.

“Cheung Kong is sitting on the most available-for-sale units, so its strategy is very important for the market,” said Mr Alfred Lau, an analyst at Bocom International Holdings in Hong Kong. The discount at City Point “is not a severe price cut, so it seems they’re not going for volume, which puts less pressure on the pricing”.

Sales at City Point may also benefit from an adjustment in the double stamp duty, which extends the time local buyers have to sell their existing homes to qualify for a refund of the additional tax. The tweak is a technical adjustment and does not signify relaxation of property curbs, Mr Chan Ka-keung, Hong Kong’s secretary for financial services and treasury, said last week.

The government may consider adjusting some of the property curbs after the supply and demand in the real estate market returns to normal, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying told lawmakers on Thursday.

Developers may release 15,000 units for sale this year, from 9,753 units last year, an 18-year low, said realtor Centaline Property Agency. AGENCIES

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