Buyers keen on Wang On’s Finnie project in Quarry Bay, with pricing one third lower than 2021

As of 6pm Saturday, 47 of the 60 units on sale at Finnie, a single block in Quarry Bay, were sold, with buyers attracted by their potential investment returns, according to agents.

“Because of the attractive prices and good location, the homes drew a buying spree from long-term investors convinced of handsome returns generated by rental income,” said Sammy Po Siu-ming, chief executive of Midland Realty’s residential division for Hong Kong and Macau. “Most buyers were from Hong Kong Island, and we also saw strong buying interest from young residents.”

The prices of the units ranged from HK$4.29 million (US$550,279) to HK$8.54 million, or HK$17,502 to HK$23,470 per square foot.

Finnie is located next to Quarry Bay MTR station, and is priced about 30 per cent lower than the initial launch of Henderson Land’s The Holborn in 2021, which was priced at HK$28,888 per sq ft on average.

Even though there has been no new supply of flats in the Taikoo Place area for many years, the prices were about 20 per cent lower than unsold units in the same neighbourhood, Jimmy Lee, director of Midland, said earlier this month.

Po predicted that the Finnie flats could generate annualised investment returns of 5 per cent.

Analysts expect prospective Hong Kong homebuyers to begin chasing new flats soon amid high expectations of an interest-rate cut by the US Federal Reserve next month.

Louis Chan Wing-kit, CEO of the residential division of Centaline, said in mid-August that as developers were starting to speed up the pace of sales, the glut of new supply could lead to a new round of discounts.

The market for lived-in homes has already taken off, seeing dozens of transactions of first-hand units every day, he added.

Prices on the secondary market dropped by 1.2 per cent month on month in June, the lowest since October 2016. That brought the decline of second-hand homes to 3.1 per cent in the first six months of the year.

Separately, Wang On has suffered losses from its investments in the bond market.