http://hk.centanet.com/prophighlight/image/192/build.jpg



http://api.photoshop.com/home_11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/adobe-px-thumbnails/7f19aff344f143cb85278a6b986b1d6c/fullsize.jpg



http://api.photoshop.com/home_11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/adobe-px-thumbnails/7b5cbf8f89a94ababbcc518bba4e014f/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/adobe-px-thumbnails/38e4a021b8ed4147ad5c443472890b27/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/adobe-px-thumbnails/c496fe344eb14f9ab7f7dc4228048982/fullsize.jpg

Developers tipped to speed up sales
3 February 2010
SCMP

Major developers are likely to speed up the release of new housing projects as low interest rates and rising salaries underpin buoyant buying sentiment in both primary and secondary markets, property agents say.

Nearly 5,000 completed or near-finished new units await release, agents say. Strong sales achieved by an uncompleted project, Belcher's Hill in Western district, over the weekend are likely to persuade rival developers to release their new projects for sale.

Buyers snapped up 120 units at Belcher's Hill, or some 80 per cent of the total available, when New World Development launched the project for pre-sale at between HK$8,500 per square foot to HK$13,000 per sq ft last Saturday. The 52-storey single residential block comprises a total of 160 units, ranging from 732 sq ft to 2,198 sq ft, and is due for completion.

"Home buying interest is unaffected by the stagnant stock market performance. Developers will become more aggressive in launching their new projects before or after Lunar New Year," said Eric Yuen Chi-fung, the head of research at Guoco Capital.

Yuen dismissed concerns that a slump in the stock market last week would have a direct impact on the property market, citing the example of what happened when the Hang Seng Index peaked at 31,638.22 points on October 30, 2007, before diving to 11,015.84, a 4 1/2-year-low in October last year.

"Home prices only reached their peak in the middle of 2008 before heading for a correction in the fourth quarter as the global financial crisis dented housing demand. Since then we have seen prices shoot up 30 per cent in the whole of 2009," he said.

Speculation that the Hang Seng Index would drop to 18,000 points from 19,000 points, would therefore have no enduring impact on the property market, Yuen said.

A declining unemployment rate, lower mortgage rates and a positive outlook on salaries would boost property prices, said Yuen, who forecast a 10 per cent to 15 per cent rise in flat prices in Hong Kong this year.

Paul Louie, the regional head of property research at Nomura International (Hong Kong), said buoyant trading in the secondary residential market was likely to prompt developers to accelerate their sales.

According to Midland Realty, deals completed in the secondary market rose 19.61 per cent to 9,812 last month from 8,203 in December. Together with deals in the primary market as well as the retail and industrial markets last month, this brought total transactions to 12,357 at a total value of HK$43.98 billion, up 2.6 per cent from December.

In the secondary market, meanwhile, home prices jumped 4 per cent last month from December, according to property benchmark Centa-City Index.

Upcoming projects ready for pre-sale or in the process of applying for pre-sale permits include Sun Hung Kai Properties' 1,886-unit Yoho Midtown in Yuen Long; Cheung Kong's 1,360-unit Festival City in Tai Wai; Kerry Properties 488-unit Island Crest in Western district; Hongkong Land's 270-unit Serenade in Tai Hang; SHKP's 715-unit Larvotto in Ap Lei Chau; and Swire Properties' 25-unit project at 5 Star Street, Admiralty.

Louie believes sales' releases this year will be driven by demand in the mass residential sector in New Territories rather than luxury homes. By 2013, he forecast that only 6,000 flats - out of a total of 56,476 to be built - will be on Hong Kong Island. Units priced above HK$20 million, he said, would face the hurdle of having to find buyers able to pay an initial deposit of HK$8 million or 40 per cent of the total flat value.

In a bid to restrict soaring prices, the Monetary Authority last October reduced, from 70 per cent to 60 per cent, the required loan-to-valuation ratio for luxury properties of more than HK$20 million.

Morgan Stanley, however, said in a research note that Hong Kong residential property prices should start falling because mainland liquidity overflows into the city's property market could be reduced significantly this year because of tighter lending conditions by mainland banks.

"Funding costs in Hong Kong are at a cyclical low, implying little upside risk in residential prices," it added.

http://www.centanet.com/prophighlight/image/192/bp-7f.jpg

http://www.centanet.com/prophighlight/image/192/bp-8f.jpg

http://www.centanet.com/prophighlight/image/192/bp-28f.jpg

http://www.centanet.com/prophighlight/image/192/bp-48f.jpg

http://www.centanet.com/prophighlight/image/192/bp-49f.jpg

http://www.centanet.com/prophighlight/image/192/bp-50f.jpg

http://www.centanet.com/prophighlight/image/192/bp-51f.jpg

http://www.centanet.com/prophighlight/image/192/bp-52f.jpg

Source : Centaline

The pics don't work.

I see them though.

New World Development profit up 83pc to HK$5.35b
18 March 2010
SCMP

Strong property sales underpinned a surge in New World Development's underlying interim profit, which soared 83 per cent to HK$1.86 billion, largely on the back of contributions from Harbour Place in Hung Hom and Wylie Court in Ho Man Tin.

The company said net profit, including a property revaluation gain of HK$2.37 billion, rose to HK$5.35 billion in the six months to December, compared with a loss of HK$992 million in the previous corresponding period.

A recovery in the Hong Kong property market last year helped New World to record strong sales.

Its joint-venture project - The Masterpiece - in Tsim Sha Tsui, developed with the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), generated revenue of HK$6 billion.

The project has been completed, with 60 per cent of the units sold. However, the revenue could not be booked in the first half because New World was still negotiating with the URA on the arrangement of retail and hotel space for the project.

The Masterpiece is the developer's most profitable project and will be the main earnings driver in the second half of the year, which ends in June.

The developer has also sold most of the units at Belcher's Hill, a luxury residential project in Western district.

Two luxury projects and two mass residential projects with 1,181 units will be launched in the market in the next two years.

Managing director Henry Cheng Kar-shun yesterday said the property market outlook remained positive.

"I don't see that the new supply of housing will increase sharply in the near future. I believe property prices will show stable growth [and] will rise 10 per cent this year," Cheng said.

He is one of the few developers to suggest that the government resume its Home Ownership Scheme (HOS).

"Developers don't want to see the government resume the HOS because it pushes down property prices. However, I personally think the government should resume the policy for the benefit of the society as a whole," Cheng said.

He said he believed that the prices of private housing would not be affected even if the government released 4,000 HOS flats on to the market in one go.

Early this month, Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Wing-tat accused New World of manipulating sales of The Masterpiece by selling at least seven of the first 30 flats released in August to Cheng's relatives.

"[The buying of units at the project is] an investment only. We didn't manipulate the selling prices of the projects. The prices of the units we bought were endorsed by the URA. The legislators were trying to score political points," he said.

New World's acquisitions of residential sites above the Austin MTR station this month boosted the company's land bank to 6.7 million square feet.

The company has proposed an interim dividend of 10 HK cents a share, up from nine HK cents in the previous period.

Shares in New World rose 1.7 per cent to close at HK$15.54 yesterday, while New World China climbed 0.35 per cent to HK$2.89.

Bump. Just so I can change the thread title correctly.

Looking at the last construction photos posted I don't think it's T/O yet.

21/5

http://api.photoshop.com/home_11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/adobe-px-thumbnails/52fedc5153a44b11891808aa3e3d08eb/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/adobe-px-thumbnails/ec6032b56fe6466783358e1741e41d8f/fullsize.jpg

OK - that looks like T/O.

OK - that looks like T/O.

:lol:

6/19

http://api.photoshop.com/home_11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/adobe-px-thumbnails/117fbd5bdf3149119edc6025deba224f/fullsize.jpg

6/21

http://api.photoshop.com/home_11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/adobe-px-thumbnails/e9dc18bf55f045e69c8a57488565c118/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/adobe-px-thumbnails/feb6f69ad5ec459d8a0c685640d1010a/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/adobe-px-thumbnails/712d8e0eac7a4ea294b4b318e1d3c277/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/adobe-px-thumbnails/26749dd3b7b14edca74b29800b7cf73c/fullsize.jpg

http://api.photoshop.com/home_11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/adobe-px-thumbnails/6f683e6fcec54428a5cbfd11b8a2d37a/fullsize.jpg

Looks like not many units will face the sea, although the back-side mountain views should still be quite nice.

Source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y3gZDIWreM

1Y3gZDIWreM

Nice!

11.14

http://api.photoshop.com/v1.0/accounts/11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/assets/cfb66f30405c4012bf5ed42000659f32/renditions/1024.jpg?md=1289743390000

http://api.photoshop.com/v1.0/accounts/11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/assets/aa7f7b5ed5e14edea090da6788c52643/renditions/1024.jpg?md=1289743433000

http://api.photoshop.com/v1.0/accounts/11e5fbb8309740b9aa8ad5872ce63dff/assets/5417df473c8a40d5b7f3a35bb9107959/renditions/1024.jpg?md=1289743441000

Blah. Only consolation is that it's probably sweet as hell inside, as the video suggests.

Completion picture, anyone?