Realty Gardens

Posted by Scottgw (282 days ago)

Hi

Any advice on realty gardens?

I have been looking to buy a flat there but I see prices have sky rocked to 13.5m.. I am attracted by the high efficiency and location.. Like most other people it seems :)

Should I be concerned about the age of the building? I.e. property values may be hit in future due to restrictions on mortgages?

10,000 sq foot is apparently an all time high for this block.. which makes me nervous

thx

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Posted by WoDer (282 days ago)

Big question has to be are you buying the flat as a home or investment. If as a home do you think it is worth the asking price?

Posted by Scottgw (282 days ago)

Thanks for reply

Well I am buying to live it.. but I cant divorce the two concepts. I wouldnt want to buy a house I think is a bad investment I would just rent. So do i think it is worth it? I am in two minds.. With interest reates so low it is quite affordable but there just seems such a risk of overpaying at the moment due to limited supply and almost universal belief that property prices will increase.

Hence why I am looking for others views?

Posted by Patrick Yiu (281 days ago)

Realty Garden is certainly the best appreciated property in Mid-Level West. I recalled I sold one in 01 for only $5.8M to an English couple. The purchaser was a civil servant who moved from the Peak 3000' apt, where the govn't took it back, the wife was crying and they had to dump half of their furniture.

It turned out the decision was right. If they keep renting other places in the Peak, I guess they still have to down size by now and have no assets.

Chasing after "already appreciated" property is a risk, versus buying trash ones relatively low. Down in lower M/L 1300' below $8M, but the potential for appreciation is low. Some could think it has a lot of room to catch up but you never know.

Personally, I'd never take the chance of buying trash stocks/property thinking of room to catch up with the first rank, not to mention this is a place you will live. I don't believe you could settle in lower M/L if you like Realty.

If age of the building is your worry, how about chance for redevelopment? Land supply from the Govn't is rare, builders trying to buy land off older properties by paying 1/3 more than market price, this explains why older property didn't go up as high in 97 record compare to newer ones, and it does now.

I have a deal in Happy Valley two months ago, the building built in 1959, buyer got a 30 years mortgage from Standard Chartered without negotiation, but the same age in Causeway Bay can only do 8 years. Do you see the bank approach?

Posted by consulting (273 days ago)

By Arts Mansion on Conduit instead...HK$7k per square...same area and immediately development potential to take it to HK$10,000

Posted by Patrick Yiu (271 days ago)

This is orange to apple comparision. Arts Mansion doesn't have swimming pool, gym, BBQ place, gazebo, children playground, basketball field, landscape garden and shuttle bus. The front view is facing building accross the road, the back view is close to mountain. Realty front is harbour, back is distance to mountain. Not to mention the age is 11 years younger.

The size of Arts Mansion claims to have 800'. As far as I remember my uncle used to live there thirty years back, it was 600'. God knows how it increased 200' under modern measurement. Realty really feels like over 80% of 1350', very efficient.