Market yawns at new property promotion rules
Updated: 2009-11-24 07:42
By Ying Yuhua(HK Edition)
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HONG KONG: The property market and real estate companies have exhibited a minimal reaction to the new measures Chief Executive Donald Tsang announced last Friday over the marketing of new, uncompleted apartments.
Share prices of local developers gained on yesterday's trading, in a day the overall market rose. Sun Hung Kai Properties ended 0.34 percent higher to HK$115.8; New World Development edged up 1.6 percent to HK$16.34, while the share price of Henderson Land Development rose 2.3 percent to HK$55.35 from the last trading session.
In the property market itself, experts said business was not much affected over the weekend. "The new measures have had no significant impact on the property market, especially on luxury apartments market," said Patrick Fung, sales director of Midland Realty.
"Because for most buyers, they have already known that the square footage in the sales document doesn't mean the usable square footage, and if the rules are carried out when we are selling new buildings, I think the same thing should be done on the second-hand market," he said.
The government plans to tighten restrictions on the developers, which require companies to spell out the usable square footage inside the flats. It also will require that developers "provide floor numbering information in a more prominent manner in the sales brochures."
The new government policies were reached in an agreement with the Hong Kong Real Estate Developers Association, which yesterday issued detailed guidelines to its company members, according to the association's spokeswoman Maggie Lau.
The new measures are expected to be implemented on December 1, said Lau, although the developers are still refining the guidelines.
A 30 percent jump in Hong Kong's home prices this year has sparked a public outcry over housing costs, putting pressure on the government to increase land supply and review the regulation of developers. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority had earlier increased the required downpayments on luxury homes to 40 percent from 30 percent to rein in the sector's galloping prices.
(HK Edition 11/24/2009 page4)