China Resources Banks $1.53 Billion On 46,921 Rejections
260 Buyers, One Flat
China Resources Land put 180 flats on the price list for Sterling I in Cheung Sha Wan on Saturday and closed the day with 47,101 registrations sitting on top of them. That is more than 260 people chasing every unit, the biggest first-round subscription count a Hong Kong primary sale has ever recorded, beating Sun Hung Kai's Sierra Sea Phase 2A from January by close to five thousand ballots. Each entry cost a few hundred dollars and a signature. The developer banked roughly HK$1.53 billion before lunch. Prices after discount ran HK$5.298 million to HK$13.236 million, averaging HK$18,367 a square foot, with up to 16 percent knocked off list. One buyer walked away with four units for about HK$40 million, because apparently one starter home wasn't enough of a bargain. For the 180 who got a flat, this was the best HK$100 they ever spent. For the other 46,921, it was a rejection email: 46,921 losing entries against 180 winners is worse odds than a Mark Six second-division prize. Charge everyone to enter, deliver scarcity on schedule. Sterling I didn't need a show flat full of balloons. It needed a spreadsheet and a waiting list longer than the MTR at rush hour.
The Job Market Underneath
The same week Sterling I sold out, the government's labour numbers came in and nobody was popping champagne over them. Unemployment held at 3.7 percent for May through July, same as it's been since January, and underemployment crept up to 1.7 percent, with officials openly flagging pressure from the wave of graduates about to hit the job market. That's not collapse. It's not recovery either. So 47,101 people registering for 180 flats in one weekend isn't a vote of confidence in the economy. It's a vote for one project priced right. Sterling I sits on a well-connected patch of Cheung Sha Wan, averaging under twenty grand a square foot after discount, in a market that hasn't seen a launch that cheap in a while. A fresh graduate weighing a HK$5.3 million flat against a jobless rate that refuses to move isn't voting on Hong Kong's future. They're voting on whether this particular building, at this particular discount, beats renting for another year. The queue of 47,000 reflects one discount, priced right, in one weekend, not a shift in the market underneath it.
Sterling I's second batch goes on sale within weeks. If China Resources holds the discount and the registrations hold near 47,000, that's a market. If the discount shrinks and the queue shrinks with it, Saturday was a one-off built on a good price and a slow year. Either way, the 46,921 who didn't get a flat this week get to try their luck again.
Sources
- Sterling I sellout figures and pricing (dimsumdaily.hk)
- Ballot record and land cost detail (dimsumdaily.hk)
- Unemployment rate holds at 3.7pc (scmp.com)