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  #1  
Old Posted Jul 14, 2010, 3:24 PM
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HONG KONG | Lime Stardom | 165m | 37 fl | U/C

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  #2  
Old Posted Jul 14, 2010, 3:34 PM
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ehhhh idk it looks like something HK already has...
     
     
  #3  
Old Posted Aug 1, 2010, 5:23 PM
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7/25





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  #4  
Old Posted Aug 3, 2010, 4:11 PM
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Small flats, big prices, bigger disappointment
High-end prices for small flats spell disappointment

30 July 2010
South China Morning Post

Middle-income earners hoping that government exhortations to developers to build more smaller, affordable flats will bear fruit are in for a disappointment.

While many such flats are small, their prices are not, ranging from under HK$3 million to nearly HK$8 million and with mortgage repayments that can eat up as much as 80 per cent of the median household income.

The cheapest home the Post could find among small new flats released for sale this year costs HK$2.5 million and offers saleable space of just 270 square feet - smaller than many hotel rooms. At the top of the range is a flat with 370 sq ft for HK$7.8 million.

"You have to go into debt for your entire life for a tiny living space. What kind of life are we facing?" asked Paul Yip Siu-fai, a professor who specialises in population and mental health issues at the University of Hong Kong.

While smaller flats cost less than bigger ones, their prices per square foot are at the upper end of the market, ranging from HK$8,000 to HK$21,000 in terms of saleable area and HK$6,000 to HK$15,000 in terms of gross floor area.

"The flats are small but expensive. This is unhealthy," Democratic Party legislator Lee Wing-tat said.

Since Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen used his policy address in October to urge developers to build more small and medium-sized flats, government officials have said they will liaise with developers, including the Urban Renewal Authority and the MTR Corporation, to increase the supply of such homes.

Transport and Housing Bureau figures released last week show that 58 per cent of the 61,000 private flats which will become available in the next four years will be small to medium-sized. The Rating and Valuation Department defines a small flat as one of up to 430 sq ft and a medium- sized flat as being up to 750 sq ft.

At least eight developments which have come on the market in the past six months have included flats in these two categories, but they are not cheap.

The cheapest flat we found -at HK$2.5 million for 270 sq ft - is in the Lime Stardom development in Tai Kok Tsui, a project co-developed by the Urban Renewal Authority and Sun Hung Kai Properties.

The HK$7.8 million, 370 sq ft flat - among the most expensive to have gone on sale recently - is in Island Crest, another project the authority co-developed with Kerry Properties.

In between are flats of 301 sq ft, dubbed studios, that are for sale in The Hermitage in Tai Kok Tsui for HK$3.9 million to HK$4.7 million.

If a buyer took out a 20-year mortgage for 70 per cent of the value of the Lime Stardom flat at an interest rate of 2 per cent, the monthly repayments would be around HK$9,000. For a mortgage on the same terms for a flat priced over HK$4 million, the owner would have to pay more than HK$15,000 a month, close to the median monthly household income of HK$18,000. And monthly repayments on a loan for the HK$7.8 million flat would be HK$28,000.

In April, when prices in some large estates passed their 1997 peak, Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng highlighted the supply of small to medium-sized flats in a bid to address public concern about increasing flat prices.

In February, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said in his budget that the government would, for the first time, require developers tendering for a site in Long Ping to build smaller flats. It would also liaise with the MTR and Urban Renewal Authority to increase the supply of smaller flats.

The authority, which is committed to building smaller flats in a Ma Tau Wai project, now says it will reduce the size of flats at Yu Lok Lane, Sheung Wan, to less than 500 sq ft.

Yip, the population academic and a government adviser on policy, said studies showed rising demand for housing from people in their twenties and thirties but the small flats available to them were too pricey.

"The increasing number of university students queuing for public flats is a bad sign," he said. "They are simply giving up hope of moving into a private flat."

Housing Authority figures show the number of single people under 30 waiting for public flats has increased by 60 per cent in the past four years, from 13,400 in 2006 to 21,300 last year.

"We are facing two extremes. Those who cannot afford luxurious apartments will have to live in public flats," Yip said.

Law Chi-kwong, a social sciences professor at the University of Hong Kong, said: "Government policy should not seek to shrink the living space of its people. It does not match with Hongkongers' expectations."
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  #5  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2010, 3:40 PM
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SHKP's Lime Stardom coming to Kowloon
Good sales expected following success of Lime Habitat

SHKP Press Release
5 February 2010



Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) announced that its latest residential project in the 'Lime' series will be Lime Stardom, offering luxury living for a new generation in the style of Lime Habitat. Publicity for the trendy lifestyle at Lime Stardom will include a large statue on the Causeway Bay waterfront and a giant billboard by the Western Harbour tunnel to mark the Lime series in debut Kowloon.

Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency Executive Director Eric Tung said: "The Lime series is meant to provide residents with the freedom to enjoy their personal space. This vision is reflected from the architecture to all facilities, which cater to a new generation of owners and their individual lifestyle needs. The success of Lime Habitat has reinforced the image of a boutique luxury residence. Lime Stardom in Kowloon will be an extension of Lime Habitat's unique character and quality in an upgraded version of the series in terms of clubhouse, types of residence offered and matching kitchens and bathrooms. Lime Stardom will be a remarkable project in the neighbourhood."

SHKP will promote Lime Stardom in Kowloon and its unique contemporary style with a succession of campaigns, starting with a towering Lime People statue of nearly seven metres on the Causeway Bay waterfront looking towards Kowloon to symbolize the extension of the Lime concept from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon. There will also be a large billboard by the Western Harbour tunnel announcing the arrival of Lime Stardom and its unique lifestyle in Kowloon.

Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency Senior Sales and Marketing Manager Tam Sik Cham said that the second phase of publicity to start in March will see exhibitions in different areas of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories. More information about the project and architectural models will be on display to offer the public and potential buyers a greater understanding of Lime Stardom.

About Lime Stardom

Lime Stardom is being developed in collaboration with the Urban Renewal Authority. It is at 1 Larch Street in Tai Kok Tsui and will have 377 units from studio flats to one- to three-bedroom apartments and special penthouse units. The development will rise to 165 metres or 37 storeys, commanding panoramic views of West Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. The tranquil site amid a busy urban district is within walking distance of the Mong Kok, Mong Kok East and Olympic MTR stations, offering convenient transportation. The development will have a modern, elegant exterior with top materials and clubhouse facilities on a par with Lime Habitat in Hong Kong Island East, extending the Lime brand to Kowloon. Lime Stardom is poised to become a new benchmark for luxury living in the neighbourhood.
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Last edited by hkskyline; Oct 2, 2010 at 5:03 PM.
     
     
  #6  
Old Posted Oct 2, 2010, 5:03 PM
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Two developers tower over market
12 August 2010
SCMP

The big are getting bigger.

Just seven years ago, Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) and Cheung Kong (Holdings) accounted for just over a third of the new private homes put up for sale.

This year, seven out of 10 new homes will come from them - a near-doubling of their market share and a dramatic illustration of how the market for new homes is increasingly dominated by a handful of firms.

One key reason for this concentration? Government policies that price land out of the reach of all but the biggest developers.

"All the sites from government auctions and development projects tendered out by the MTR Corporation are too big for mid-scale and small developers to bid," said Ken Yeung, an analyst at Citigroup Global Markets Asia. "Even redevelopment projects led by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), which are not that sizeable, also attracted big developers, leaving no room for small firms to compete."

The result, analysts say, is a continuing focus on higher-end flats in the new-home market - and probably strong staying power among developers even if prices dip. And that means prices will likely stay firm.

Prices of flats, as measured by the Centa-City Leading Index, have risen 12 per cent this year. Together with the 29 per cent increase last year, the property market has already surged more than 40 per cent from its bottom during the global credit crunch.

"Most new units are now selling for almost HK$10,000 per square foot. Even I [as a high-income professional] will not be able to buy a new flat of reasonable size for my family of six," said Polytechnic University associate professor Dr Lam Pun-lee.

Figures from Centaline Property Agency, based on Land Registry sale and purchase records, show that the top four developers - SHKP, Cheung Kong, Kerry Properties and Sino Land - accounted for 74 per cent of all new flats sold in the first half of this year - an increase of 20 percentage points from seven years ago. Back then, the top four developers - which included New World Development but not Kerry Properties - accounted for just over half of all new units sold. (Kerry Properties is part of the Kerry Group, the biggest shareholder in the SCMP Group, which publishes this newspaper.)

That matches Consumer Council data that shows 55 per cent of new units from 1991 to 1994 were built by the top four developers.

In the first half of this year, SHKP and Cheung Kong together accounted for more than 60 per cent of the market. Citi Investment Research & Analysis estimates the two companies will between them launch 12,000 homes for sale year - over 70 per cent of the 16,624 new homes the securities firm expects to come to market from all developers this year.

That is good news for shareholders of both companies, but Professor Raymond So of the Hang Seng Management College worries that the rise of superdevelopers undercuts the government's objective of providing more small to mid-sized apartments for the mass market.

"The real estate market is controlled by a few big developers who are only interested in selling luxurious units for higher profit," So said.

"As they won't bother to build another mass market estate like Taikoo Shing, retail buyers are stuck at Taikoo Shing and other old developments, which will thus push up secondary market prices."

The big developers will also be better able to ride out a down market without cutting prices, analysts say.

"As large developers dominate the primary property market, they can easily hold [back] units for sale, as they are financially very strong," Yeung said. "For example, in the second half of 2008, when the economy hit bottom, developers didn't feel any pressure to put their portfolios up for clearance sales."

Higher prices do not just benefit property developers, of course; existing homeowners do not like seeing their investment fall. Balancing those interests against those of people who are feeling priced out of the market is a tricky task for the government. And there it is itself conflicted.

"It is a structural issue relating to the government land sale policy," said Thomas Cheng, chairman of the Consumer Council's competition policy committee. "From my own estimate, a site can sell for a higher price in one piece than being separated into four smaller pieces. If the government was willing to sacrifice part of its land revenue by cutting up land for auction, the property market wouldn't be so highly concentrated in the hands of big developers."

The MTR Corporation and the URA, two government-controlled entities, have granted mega-residential projects in the past few years. Their projects accounted for about 42 per cent of new-home sales last year and 31 per cent in this year's first six months.

Launched this year, the MTR Corp's La Mer in Tung Chung, Lohas Park in Tseung Kwan O and Festival City next to its Tai Wai depot, all developed by Cheung Kong, provided more than 4,000 flats.

Last month, SHKP launched 377 flats at Lime Stardom, a redevelopment with the URA in Tai Kok Tsui. One of those flats went for HK$12.31 million, or HK$11,640 per gross square foot; the cheapest, a 345 sq ft studio flat, fetched HK$2.52 million, or HK$7,290 per square foot.

Lam said the developers' preference for building upmarket flats on sites obtained from land auctions or the two quasi-government bodies had caused a structural problem.

He says developers always argue that homebuyers can go to the secondary market if they don't have deep enough pockets for new flats and that, since there are more than a million homes for sale in the secondary market, developers claim they cannot dominate the property market.

"But if we really study the supply figures, we find that the supply in the secondary market is not as big as we might have expected," Lam said.

Examining data from the Rating and Valuation Department, Lam found that among the 1.8 million private homes in Hong Kong, about 400,000 are Home Ownership Scheme flats, for which a land premium must be paid before they can be sold on the secondary market.

Of the remaining 1.4 million units, about 400,000 are village houses, which are not in the mainstream market because of potential land- lease problems.

"If we also take away those apartments more than 30 years old and the 50,000 unsold inventory of the developers, the volatile pool has only about 600,000 units," Lam said.

"If big developers continue to build high-class `works of art' that mostly attract mainlanders and speculators, secondary market prices will unavoidably climb further, even if demand remains normal."

A spokeswoman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said the government recently gazetted the Competition Bill, which "aims to prohibit and deter undertakings of different sizes in all sectors [including the property sector] from adopting abusive or other anti-competitive practices".

However, the bill would not stop developers dominating the market as long as there was no abusive behaviour, she said.

The Transport and Housing Bureau said it was consulting the public about whether to use public money to subsidise home ownership.

Cheung Kong said its development policy was driven by demand and that some of its projects addressed the needs of homebuyers from all walks of life.

"For example, there will be two-room to four-room apartments in the project at Tseung Kwan O Area 85 to satisfy the market," the firm said.

SHKP, for its part, said it had always built a substantial number of small to medium-sized flats in addition to premium apartments.

"We do point out that developments must meet the needs of Hong Kong people and contribute to the sustainable growth of society, supported by good town planning," a representative of the company said.
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  #7  
Old Posted Oct 31, 2010, 2:09 AM
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10/24

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  #8  
Old Posted Nov 2, 2010, 3:21 AM
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How can people live in such tiny spaces? That's like a big closet!
     
     
  #9  
Old Posted Sep 13, 2011, 5:09 PM
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7/10 (apparently it's the building behind the green scaffolding)

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  #10  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2011, 4:11 AM
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By Car L from SSC :

8/15


9/13




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