HK’s biggest developer sells 204 apartments in a day at discount

HONG KONG – Sun Hung Kai Properties, Hong Kong’s biggest property developer, sold more than 200 apartments in one day after it offered the units at a discount to boost sales.

All of the 204 homes available for purchase at the Cullinan Sky project – located in the Kai Tak area of the city’s former airport – were sold on Oct 5, according to a representative of the developer.

The first batch of flats in the 906-unit development was priced 20 per cent lower than nearby new projects.

While Hong Kong’s recent reduction in mortgage rates has lifted sentiment, property developers still face a challenging outlook marred by an oversupply of homes.

This is forcing builders to cut prices to reduce a backlog of properties that stands at a two-decade high, limiting any significant market rebound, according to Bloomberg Intelligence (BI).

Cullinan Sky was developed on a land plot that Sun Hung Kai bought for HK$25.2 billion (S$4.2 billion) in 2018, a record price at the time.

With the pricing of this first batch of homes, the developer may be booking a loss as the average sale is 38 per cent below the estimated break-even unit price of HK$32,000 per sq ft, BI said.

Sun Hung Kai has an additional 584 homes under construction in a second phase of the project.