HONG KONG: Sun Hung Kai Properties, the largest property developer by market value in Hong Kong and Asia, has raised the prices of its new luxury residential project by 5 percent after selling 150 units in 10 days.

Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency Executive Director Victor Lui said they are now selling three-bedroom apartments - which will be priced at 5 percent more than the already-sold four-bedroom ones - at between HK$14,700 and HK$21,000 per square foot.

A newly completed luxury apartment building stands surrounded by older ones in Hong Kong. Local developers say high-end homes have attracted many buyers after recent price cuts as a result of the economic downturn. Bloomberg

Sun Hung Kai Properties plans to further increase the prices by 2 percent after the sale of every 10 units, Liu told China Daily in a phone interview yesterday.

"There is a chance that we may not promote other units, after selling out the 200 apartments," Lui said.

The property developer has released 200 luxury apartments in the first launch of its new residential project at Kowloon station, named The Cullinan, while the 150 units sold at between HK$14,000 and HK$20,000 per square foot have generated HK$3.5 billion in revenue.

The new luxury property will provide 825 units, ranging from 900 to 2,300 sq ft.

"As our selling price is reasonable, and the quality is good, it will attract many buyers to enter the market," Liu said.

More than 40 units of the luxury project were sold over the weekend, according to market sources, while the property developer has achieved 75 percent of its sales target in just 10 days.

Wong Leung-sing, associate director at Centaline Property Agency, said the price increase at The Cullinan is slight, and noted that it is quite rare to achieve such good sales when the property market is doing so poorly.

"It reflects that the investment market isn't too bad," Wong said yesterday. "The cash-rich people become more watchful on their financial investments, and they prefer purchasing property or gold instead."

Wong, however, said other luxury residential projects in Hong Kong may not follow the price raise of The Cullinan, because of its uniqueness and quality.

"The property developer targeted to sell units at HK$40,000 per square foot last year, so it has now significantly slashed the price," Wong noted. "Other builders may hardly follow."

Patrick Chow, Ricacorp Properties' head of research, said the sales of The Cullinan cannot be a market index, since the supply of the luxury units is quite limited.

"The general property-market situation is still lacking direction at the moment," Chow said.

(HK Edition 02/24/2009 page16)