The Buzz | Hong Kong developers offer discounts as property boom goes flat

Hong Kong developers are offering discounts at new projects in the latest sign the city’s housing boom is coming off the boil. Country Garden Holdings Co. and Wang On Properties Ltd. are giving discounts of as much as 12 percent at their Altissimo project in the New Territories, a price list shows. Employees of the two developers are granted an additional 5 percent deduction. Lai Sun Development Co. has cut prices 10 percent at eight units in a project on Hong Kong Island.

Developers have been offering discounts and enticements including cash rebates and shopping vouchers to boost sales as the market slows. New home sales may fall as much as 10 percent to 15 percent by value in the next 12-to-18 months, Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday. That added to a chorus of bearish calls on a property market ranked the world’s least affordable, with some analysts forecasting prices will slump as much as 15 percent next year.

The discounts come after secondary-home prices last week dropped the most since 2016, sliding 1.3 percent from the previous week, according to the Centa-City Leading Index.