In late August this year, the much anticipated, long-awaited sale of Shun Tak’s brand new residential tower on Hengqin Island opened.
A total of 426 apartments were up for grabs, with a mix of studios, 1 & 2 bedrooms ranging in size from 475 square feet to 1,345 square feet, gross. Very nice and perfect for a single, just married or starter family. And guess how long it took for these apartments to be sold? Twenty seconds!
How, you may ask? And why are they so incredibly popular?
To answer your first question, the logistics of the sale went something like this: Interested buyers had to pre-register in person, in Shun Tak’s Hengqin offices, within an assigned period in August. This was so their identities could be verified. And so that at the same time they could put down a RMB50,000 (HKD56,500) deposit.
In spite of the COVID-19 challenges of traveling, the economic downturn and concerns about job security, the queues went out the door and down the corridor.
These eager buyers were given a purchase order with which they could then register online. Every registered account that enrolled was able to apply for up to three apartments, in order of priority.
1pm Saturday August 29 came and buying was opened online. Units were sold in three sections. The first section was for the lowest floors, and these all went in five seconds. Then the next highest section went, then the next. All gone in less than half a minute! Blink and you’d have missed it.
I bet the developers were kicking themselves; they could have easily sold at a higher price given such enthusiasm and pent up demand for a piece of Macau’s new front door – especially as the Shun Tak property is literally sitting at the so-called front door – the newly opened Lotus Bridge border gate between Macau and Hengqin. Then again, per- haps they decided to err on the side of caution, given the COVID situation. And besides, the sale price of RMB4,650 psf (HKD5,260 psf) was a good 15-20% above average sale prices across other Hengqin residential developments.
But when compared with Macau prices,
Shun Tak’s Hengqin apartments are still substantially cheaper. At One Oasis, for example, a 2-bed- room unit is HKD7,200 psf, and Nova Grand is going for around HKD10,000 psf, the latter being another Shun Tak developed project, but in Macau.
In spite of being higher in price than other residential properties on Hengqin, the answer to the ‘Why Buy?’ question is that these proud new owners of a Shun Tak Hengqin apartment are strong believers in the Hengqin Story. Hengqin will eventually integrate with Macau giving Macau the space it needs to diversify its economy and become the ultimate family playground. It will be like adding an Asian Orlando to Asia’s Las Vegas, creating Asia’s entertainment capital. Critically, this entertainment capital has the added benefit of holding a monopoly on Chinese casino gambling.
Hengqin is to serve as a transportation hub for the western Pearl River Delta. National high- ways, bridges, rail lines, and airport links will all converge in Hengqin. The border that Shun Tak’s property sits on is sized to accommodate up to 80 million travelers.
Among Macau buyers, the tremendous popularity of this particular sale – and we expect with other similar sales down the line – was that we now have three banks, BNU, ICBC and BOC that will give mortgage loans of up to 70% of the price of the property and importantly, offer the extra service of transferring funds from Macau to the Hengqin developers’ bank accounts in Hengqin.
So these Shun Tak apartments should turn out to be a good buy overall, even though services and infrastructure to the property are still in their infancy. The building in which the apartments were sold is made up of a 230 room hotel from GF-18F, a clubhouse on the 19/F, residences from 21-51/F and a three-level shopping mall with car parks below. The apartments are due to be ready for handover in Q3, 2021.
And as for the “Open Sale” process, I can’t see it being limited to Shun Tak’s property. Its success will likely mean that it has set a new trend for the future, an enrolling system that will enhance transparency and convenience, and providing a platform of fairness to potential buyers of new developments.
