New residential launches halved in July-August

Billion Development’s The Aurora's sold-out units are Tsuen Wan's cheapest in a decade.

Primary residential launches in Hong Kong dropped by half to only three projects in July and August, JLL reported.

Only one project was launched in August: Billion Development’s The Aurora in Tsuen Wan, which sold out all 354 units in a single day, although at prices about 10% lower from the secondary market in the vicinity.

“This suggests that there remains a deep pool of pent-up demand in the market that is largely resilient to faltering market sentiment so long as projects are fairly priced," said Henry Mok, JLL senior director of capital markets at Hong Kong.

He added that developers will have to continue implementing conservative pricing strategies to maintain sell-through rates ahead of the vacancy tax.

The decrease in launches was largely attributed to uncertainties in the global macroeconomic environment as well as the escalation of the ongoing protests.

Still, up to 16,000 units are projected to arrive in the second half of the year. However, prices are expected to contract around 0 to 5% for the full year despite growing 3.9% in H1.