A consortium of builders led by New World Development (NWD) priced a new residential project on the south side of Hong Kong Island below all neighbouring developments, as the embattled company seeks to whittle down HK$124 billion (US$15.8 billion) in debt.
The developers priced 101 flats in the 447-unit Deep Water Pavilia project in Wong Chuk Hang at HK$20,932 per square foot. That was about 3 per cent lower than the first price list of CK Asset Holdings’ nearby Blue Coast II in October, and it undercut all of the completed projects in the Southside residential neighbourhood, according to data compiled by property agencies.
The price was around 30 per cent lower than the first batch at Southland, the first phase of Southside, which launched in April 2021 at HK$29,689 per square foot.
Property deals in Hong Kong fell to a three-month low in May as caution prevailed amid heightened US-China tensions and stock market volatility. Residential transactions fell 10.3 per cent from a month earlier to 5,105, Land Registry data showed.
The 101 units comprise 95 two-bedroom flats, two three-bedroom units and four four-bedroom homes, priced from HK$8.5 million to HK$37.2 million, or HK$18,688 to HK$29,538 per square foot after a 20 per cent discount.
The first sale for the project – co-developed by Empire Group, CSI Properties and Lai Sun Development – could begin as soon as next week, according to NWD, which owns 50 per cent.
The sale is expected to provide some relief for cash-strapped NWD, which said last week it would postpone interest payments, due this month, on four perpetual bonds totalling US$3.4 billion.
