Overseas Property | Lush Dream Home

Until now, Hong Kong’s most expensive flat per square foot is a 5,497 square feet unit on the 80th floor of The Arch in Kowloon, another development by Sun Hung Kai. –PHOTO: AFP

HONG KONG – TWO penthouses in Hong Kong were each put on sale for a record US$38.5 million (S$54.5 million), a developer said Friday, as demand from wealthy Chinese buyers has sent prices in the city soaring.

Sun Hung Kai, the world’s largest developer by market value, said it raised the asking price by 20 per cent for the 4,000 square feet penthouses on top of the Cullinan twin towers, Hong Kong’s tallest residential development.

The properties will be the city’s most expensive apartments if they are sold at the 300 million Hong Kong dollar asking price, which translates into US$75,000 per square foot. Continue reading →

US housing up 1.5% in August

Posted on 17 Sep 2009 | Comments Off

WASHINGTON – HOUSING construction rose in August to the highest level in nine months as a big surge in apartment building offset a decline in single-family activity.

The August performance was another sign that the US housing industry has begun to recover from its worst downturn in decades.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that construction of new homes and apartments rose 1.5 per cent to an annual rate of 598,000 units last month. That is slightly lower than the 600,000-unit pace that economists had forecast.

The increase pushed building activity to the highest level since last November and left home construction 24.8 per cent above the record low hit back in April.

Applications for building permits, a good forecaster of future activity, posted a 2.7 per cent rise in August to an annual rate of 579,000 units, slightly below the 580,000 level that had been forecast. Permits for single-family homes dipped by 0.2 per cent while multifamily units rose by 15.8 per cent.

The 1.5 per cent rise in housing starts followed a small 0.2 per cent dip in July. The August strength came from a 25.3 per cent surge in construction of multifamily units, a volatile sector which had fallen by 15.2 per cent in July. Continue reading →