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1. New flat launches `to remain steady'

1. New flat launches `to remain steady'
Danny Chung, The Standard 23 April 2004

The number of new property developments is unlikely to rise significantly this year despite the government resuming land auctions next month, a real estate agent said.

The Lands Department said on Monday that two residential plots, in Sha Tin and Ma On Shan, will go under the hammer next month, the first land auction in 20 months.

Midland Realty chief analyst Buggle Lau said the freeze on land sales since late 2002 had made it hard for developers to replenish land banks and had affected construction.

``The situation is unlikely to improve this year,'' he added. ``There are only 17 sites available on the application list, and only some of these will be drawn by developers for public auctions this year.''

The Buildings Department issued 21,366 consents to commence work in 2003. Although this was 30 per cent more than 2002, it was still 10 to 20 per cent lower than 1999, 2000 and 2001, Lau said. The department said the number of consents to commence work would not change dramatically this year.

``We estimate the figure will be around 20,000 this year,'' Lau said.

He said developers have been waiting for prices to improve before selling their flats, so the pace of property launches had also fallen. Developers had been mainly selling off their unsold flats.

Lands Department statistics quoted by the firm show presale numbers for last year were only 12,636, down 70 per cent on the 42,103 presales recorded in 2002. Presales refer to properties bought ``off the plan'' before construction is completed.

However, there were 6,005 presales in the first quarter this year compared with 2,690 in the fourth quarter last year, and nearly 2.4 times the number for the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Centaline estate agency said there were 15,637 unsold flats in the first quarter this year, 30 per cent fewer than the previous quarter. The number of unsold flats remained around 25,000 in each quarter last year.

According to Centaline's statistics, the number of unsold flats started to fall in the third quarter of last year and continued into the fourth quarter.

The agency expected the number of unsold flats to drop to about 12,000 by the end of the year.

Unsold flats on Hong Kong Island fell 36 per cent while the New Territories had a similar drop of 34 per cent. Kowloon only had a 21 per cent drop. Tung Chung and the outlying islands saw a 57 per cent drop, Hung Hom and To Kwa Wan 51 per cent and Tsueng Kwan O, 32 per cent.