Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) vice chairman and managing director Raymond Kwok expects the local property market to regain its pace next year and predicts that the average flat price will see a 5 percent rebound.

Speaking on the sidelines of an annual general meeting yesterday, Kwok said that he was upbeat over the better-than-expected performance of the group's newly-released projects the Peak One. The company sold about 650 units at HK$3.8 billion over the past two weeks.

"The sale response is very encouraging... and we believe property prices have stabilized," Kwok said. "We're confident toward the market in the mid term," he added. Although some local lenders, including HSBC, recently raised their mortgage rates up to 4 percent, Kwok noted that it is still at a low level.

Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency executive director Victor Lui believed that the property market will be dominated by genuine house users rather than speculators in 2009.

He added that many house owners have paid off their mortgage loans and were planning to purchase another new apartment, so there will be a strong demand to boost the overall transaction volume next year.

SHKP plans to sell 2,400 units for the current financial year, hoping to make HK$15 billion in sales revenue.

Commenting on the financial turmoil, SHKP vice chairman and managing director Thomas Kwok said that it is difficult to evaluate the magnitude of the financial crisis for the time being, but the crisis will continue to plague Hong Kong economy over the next one to two years.

However, he believed that the central government's 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package can help blunt the impact of the global slowdown on Hong Kong.

Although many investment banks have resorted to heavy layoffs, Lui pointed out that it would not affect the leasing of the group's commercial project ICC (International Commerce Centre).

Morgan Stanley has secured 16 floors of the building. Deutsche Bank said it will move into the second phase next year, while half of the total gross floor area of the third phase will be leased to Credit Suisse, he said.

Lui also believed that the company will be able to rent out all available spaces of the building next year.

(HK Edition 12/05/2008 page2)