Midland Realty: September Hong Kong private residential pre-sale consent applications involve 3,778 units, up 235.8% month-on-month, a more than four-year high

Midland Realty analyst Cen Songqian said that as Hong Kong's property market conditions improve, developers are accelerating pre-sale consent applications for their projects to increase flexibility in future sales deployment. According to data compiled by the Midland Realty Research Center from the Lands Department, a total of 7 new pre-sale consent applications for private residential projects were recorded in September, involving 3,778 units, surging about 235.8% month-on-month from 1,125 units in August, and hitting a 52-month (over four-year) high since May 2022. The projects involved include Fanling Sheung Shui Town Lot No. 297 Phases 1 to 4 (2,290 units), East Kowloon New Kowloon Inland Lot No. 6647 Phases C and D (898 units), and Yuen Long Ho Chau Road No. 28 Phase 2 (590 units). Cen Songqian pointed out that among the 7 new applications in September, only 1 had a pre-sale period of 20 months, while the remaining 6 all exceeded 30 months, including 1 reaching 36 months (about 3 years), 1 reaching 39 months (over 3 years), and 4 reaching 51 months (over 4 years). Since the maximum pre-sale period is 30 months, but the above projects still have a long time before completion, this reflects that developers are mainly submitting pre-sale applications early for more distant projects, reserving greater flexibility for adjusting launch pace and sales strategies in response to market conditions in the future. On the other hand, 3 private residential projects obtained pre-sale consent in September, including Phase 2 of The Knightsbridge (407 units) already launched in September, Sierra Sea 2C(2) (522 units) whose price list was announced recently, and the Wing Kwong Street No. 88 project (451 units) earlier named Tai Hoi, with the 3 projects totaling 1,380 units, down about 26.6% from 1,879 units in August. Cen Songqian said that as new pre-sale applications in September far exceeded approved units, the cumulative number of units pending pre-sale approval increased about 18.5% month-on-month to 15,378 units. However, 3,768 of these are subsidized sale housing, meaning private residential units pending approval stand at 11,610; more importantly, among the private residential units currently pending pre-sale approval, 5,049 units involve pre-sale periods exceeding 30 months, accounting for about 43.5%, of which 2,290 units exceed 50 months, accounting for about 19.7%.