SwatchGroup30萬租羅素街鋪

市場預期中港兩地於短期內有機會通關，為核心區鋪位市場釋出正面訊息，吸引國際鐘表品牌「回歸」一綫地段，消息指，銅鑼灣羅素街地鋪獲Swatch Group旗下天梭表以約30萬承租，呎租約321元，較上一手長租約的租金下挫逾6成。

市場消息指出，上述為銅鑼灣羅素街59號地下B4號，面積933方呎，以每月租金約30萬獲Swatch Group旗下天梭表 (TISSOT) 承租，為期3年，呎租約321.5元，據悉，該鋪於過去一年分別由時裝店及手機配件店短租，期間月租僅約10萬，該鋪對上一手長租戶為Swatch Group旗下另一鐘表品牌，當時租金約80萬，故該集團是次「回歸」，租金下跌約62.5%。

較前租金跌逾六成

資料亦顯示，Swatch Group早於2012年已租用該鋪位，當時月租高達165萬，及後於2018年續租時，租金調整至80萬，故最新租金較高峰回落約81%。

此外，同區啟超道16號地下至2樓巨鋪，面積約3400方呎，市傳獲口罩店以約20萬短租，呎租約58.8元，據悉，該鋪早前由珠寶鐘表行以約135萬租用，故租金下跌約85%。

(星島日報)

Over 780 shoebox flats in Hong Kong’s subsidised home ownership scheme still unsold despite more than a month on market

As of Friday, 254 of the flats at Kai Chuen Court in Kowloon, offered under the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme, still have not found buyers; all are smaller than 200 sq ft

Other unsold units under the scheme include 537 flats in Tsing Yi and Chai Wan, with about 98 per cent of them smaller than 189 sq ft

More than 780 shoebox flats put on the market in Hong Kong’s latest batch of subsidised housing units have gone unsold for over a month, even as all the larger flats offered under the scheme were quickly snapped up.

The Housing Authority offered up a total of 2, 649 new flats for sale under the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH) on October 29, including 2,112 units at Kai Chuen Court, which is situated above the Diamond Hill MTR station in Kowloon. Half of the units at Kai Chuen were sized between 184 sq ft and 287 sq ft.

However, as of Friday, 254 of the Kai Chuen flats remained unsold, accounting for 12 per cent of the estate. All of them were smaller than 200 sq ft.

Cleresa Wong Pie-yue, chairwoman of the authority’s subsidised housing committee, acknowledged that the smaller flats were less popular.

“We thought flats in Diamond Hill would be welcomed by the buyers given their urban location, but apparently it’s not exactly what we expected,” she said. “We should seriously look at the proportion of different flat types for GSH and see what can be done to cater to buyers’ needs.”

The sales this year also included 537 unsold GSH flats left over from last year’s batch, mostly at Ching Fu Court in Tsing Yi, but with a dozen located in Dip Tsui Court in Chai Wan on Hong Kong Island. About 98 per cent of those flats are smaller than 189 sq ft. So far, only 10 of those flats have been sold.

The GHS flats, built by the authority, are sold exclusively to public housing tenants or those likely to be allocated a public rental flat within a year. The programme was introduced in 2016 to provide homes for sale at significantly less than market price.

The unsold flats at Diamond Hill were priced between HK$1,223,400 and HK$1,456,400, or about 50 per cent off the market value.

In its marketing drive, the authority produced videos showing a virtual model of how furniture could be squeezed into the tiny flats. In one of the videos, which touted a “gentle chic style”, a two-seat sofa, a double bed and a refrigerator were packed into a 186 sq ft studio, though there was little space left for a dining table or a wardrobe.

So-called nano flats – often unofficially defined as homes smaller than 200 sq ft – have grown in popularity with developers in recent years based on the assumption they would appeal to first-time buyers priced out of bigger units but eager to get a foot on the property ladder.

However, the units’ tiny living spaces have also drawn criticism, and the Urban Renewal Authority has stopped building flats smaller than 300 sq ft.

In light of the criticism, the government is even considering setting a minimum flat size for the private market, while also pledging to increase the size of public housing units in the long run.

The Housing Authority received a total of 72,000 applications for this batch of GSH homes, which included some 800 second-hand flats.

About 59,000 of the applications came from families. All eligible applicants were invited to select the flats of their choice on different dates starting from late October.

More than 8,000 applicants have been invited so far, but only 36 per cent showed up. Just 25.7 per cent have actually made a purchase.

Anthony Chiu Kwok-wai, executive director of the Federation of Public Housing Estates, said he believed Kai Chuen Court could still attract some buyers, especially those who planned to resell the flats after a few years of living in them.

“The price could properly rise in some years considering its location and good traffic connections,” Chiu said.

Currently, owners of such homes can resell the flats at a freely negotiated price from the third year of purchase in a so-called secondary market, where buyers are either tenants of public rental housing, or those on the waiting list for such homes.

“But after all, the authority should revise the flat designs in their projects. Otherwise, why would a public housing tenant want to leave their bigger flat for a smaller one?” Chiu added.

(South China Morning Post)