〈Asian Post, June 23, 2018〉Forget Hong Kong's micro flats - 72 sq ft downtown space, no bigger than an oversized wardrobe and with no toilet, sells for 2.5 million yuan

If the eye-watering prices of Hong Kong's micro flats make heads spin, how about a dilapidated stand-alone house in a narrow alley squished on both sides and no bigger than an oversized wardrobe in Beijing? Warning: the house does not have a toilet.

A 10-minute walk from Tiananmen Square and only 400 metres from the National Centre for the Performing Arts, a 6.7 square metre (72 sq ft) property in Xicheng district sold this month for 2.5 million yuan (HK$3.1 million), or 373,000 yuan per square metre. By comparison, the average secondary home price in the mainland capital is 59,000 yuan per square metre.

For the sake of comparison, Hong Kong's micro flats average 200 sq ft, a standard 20-foot shipping container measures 165 sq ft while a standard British-sized car parking space is 126 sq ft. That means this house is no bigger than an oversized wardrobe.

The market value of the property, built in 1949, was reached through a court auction as it was confiscated because of a debt dispute involving the owner.

With a starting price of 600,000 yuan, the auction drew interest from 49 bidders, who eventually drove the price up to 2.5 million yuan, according to the court in Fengtai district, which held the auction.

It is difficult to ascertain the fair market value of such houses because there have hardly been any transactions in recent years, according to four residents in the neighbourhood and two property agents.Why the fuss? There are so many super rich in the city, 2.5 million yuan is just a small sum for them Zhao, local resident Hu Jun, an agent with property broker 5i5j Group near Tongjing Alley, said his firm was not involved in such deals, but added flats built in the 1990s in the neighbourhood sold for an average 120,000 yuan per square metre.

〈Asian Post, June 23, 2018〉The 90 Repulse Bay Road ultra-luxury development, which overlooks one of the city's most scenic beaches, set a record for prices in Island South yesterday, with two adjoining town houses going for just over HK$1 billion to separate buyers from the same family.

One buyer paid HK$508.67 million, or HK$90,286 per square foot, for the No 8 unit, which measures 5,634 sq ft, according to Cheung Kong Property Development, the builder of the project.

Another buyer paid HK$495.95 million for a second flat, unit No 7, measuring 5,668 sq ft, or about HK$87,500 per square foot.

"The price on a per-square-foot basis set a record," said George Sze, district director of Ricacorp Properties, referring to Hong Kong Island's southern communities. "New quality supply of ultra-luxury residential units is very limited, especially in traditional prime locations such as this. It has always been a hot spot for ultra-rich buyers with its ideal location."

The area from Deep Water Bay to Repulse Bay and Chung Hom Kok is known as "billionaires' row", with Li Ka-shing, Stanley Ho Hung-sun and Joseph Lau Luen-hung among tycoons owning mansions in the area.

Market sources said both buyers of the Repulse Bay properties were Hong Kong residents from the same family.

The two units were the first to be sold among the 11-flat development in the heart of Repulse Bay.

Sze expects the developer will put the remaining flats up for tender, saying they could breach HK$100,000 on a per-square-foot basis.

〈Business Daily, June 22, 2018〉Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po yesterday made a strong case for the government's plan to tax property owners hoarding vacant flats, saying it was not to enrich its coffers but to ensure sufficient housing, as more than 28,000 new homes would be completed in the next three years.

Details of the tax are to be confirmed next week, ahead of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor marking her first year in office on July 1.

The plan has been criticised by property developers, who claim that only a few thousand flats are vacant.

Official figures showed some 42,942 flats, or 3.7 per cent of the citywide total, were unoccupied last year. Of these, 9,370 were unsold new flats - 5,000 of which were completed last year.

Chan dismissed objections by stressing that the tax would serve the public good. "Our goal is not to increase the government's income," he said. "We would rather ... not collect any tax, but ensure flats are delivered to the market for sale or rent effectively."

Hong Kong has grappled with an acute housing shortage as property prices skyrocket beyond middle-class affordability. Lam has pledged that her administration would look at immediate and long-term solutions.

Developers insisted they would oppose the vacancy tax, arguing that only 3,000 flats were actually vacant as the remaining unoccupied flats were categorised as completed and ready to be lived in. They said they were waiting for compliance approvals from the building authorities.


〈China Daily, June 21, 2018〉Hong Kong's property developers are rushing to offload empty new flats before the government unveils details of a vacancy tax this month aimed at preventing hoarding as it seeks to ease the city's housing crisis.

New World Development will release the last 38 homes - left unoccupied for the past five years - in phase one of its Park Villa project in Yuen Long at discounted prices on Saturday.

Sun Hung Kai Properties hopes to clear its stock of 350 empty flats at Grand Yoho phase two, next to Yuen Long station, in the second half of this year. They were finished in mid-2017.

And CK Asset Holdings will offer two flats measuring 1,100 sq ft each at Ocean Supreme in Tsuen Wan for sale on Saturday, according to the project website.

It still has 24 unsold flats at the development, which is close to completion. Analysts predicted more developers would follow suit, fearing the impact of the new tax planned by the government.

They expected the sales to go some way towards easing market concern that developers were hoarding flats.

"Developers have to do something in light of growing pressure and the imposition of a tax on empty flats," said Raymond Cheng, head of Hong Kong and China property research at CGS-CIMB Securities.

Alfred Lau, a property analyst at Bocom International, said developers would first unload their inventory in areas where they expected to see limited upside potential.

〈The Standard, June 20, 2018〉One of the Hong Kong residents who spent a jaw-dropping HK$6 million on the world's most expensive parking space has been identified as the head of a financial company.

Jack Chan Siu-kit and Cheung Tsui-ling are the mystery buyers of the parking bay at the Ultima luxury residential development in Ho Man Tin, according to data released by the Land Registry yesterday.

The pair forked out HK$44,444 per square foot for the space this month, handing the couple who had bought it in September last year a profit of HK$2.6 million.

Chan is the chairman of the board and executive director of Pan Pacific Financial Holdings, according to the websites of Xinhua and the Internet Professional Association.

However, a search by the South China Morning Post found no record of the firm at the Companies Registry or the public register of the Securities and Futures Commission.

Chan and Cheung, who own a large portfolio of property in Hong Kong, are the founders of the Chinese Youth Dreamers Foundation, a non-governmental organisation.

The Post visited the foundation's office at Lippo Centre in Admiralty yesterday and found the space occupied by Pan Pacific.