Home sales crashed 44% to 4,627 in May amidst launch drought

A property at Mount Nicholson on the Peak changed hands for $916m.

Monthly home sales crashed 44% MoM to 4,627 in May following fewer property launches in the primary market, a report by JLL revealed.

This was blamed primarily on fewer launches in the primary market.

Also read: Over 5,400 flats up for grabs by H1 2019-20

Despite dismal sales figures, market sentiment remained upbeat, with all 504 units at Grand Montara in Tseung Kwan O, a project jointly developed by Wheelock Properties and MTRC, selling on the first day of the project’s launch.

The report also noted that at the top-end of the market, a house at Mount Nicholson on the Peak changed hands for $916m, or $105,603 psf.

“The growth in mass residential capital valued quickened to 0.5% MoM in June against the 0.1% MoM growth in the previous month,” Denis Ma, JLL Hong Kong’s head of research, said. “Overall, mass residential capital values grew 3.9% in H1 2019.”

Also read: Property sales down 1.5% to $397.5b in H1

The government has reportedly earmarked two residential sites in Kai Tak and Tuen Mun for sale by tender in Q3 2019. “Combining these with private development projects and Package 4 of the Wong Chuk Hang Station project - to be tendered by MTRC - the sites have a capacity to yield about 2,480 private residential units,” Ma noted.