Hong Kong’s biggest property developer posted an increase in first-half profit as it navigated the city’s prolonged real estate slump with a jump in property sales revenue.
Sun Hung Kai Properties’ underlying earnings, which exclude property revaluations, climbed 17% from a year earlier to HK$10.5 billion ($1.81 billion) in the six months ended Dec 31, 2024, the company said in a filing Thursday.
Property sales revenue more than quadrupled to HK$16.4 billion as the company sped up the sales of its projects in Hong Kong. The rise in profit followed two consecutive years of decline amid a three-year property downturn.
Nonetheless, challenges remain. Sun Hung Kai and its peers are struggling to raise prices for residential projects in a market facing an oversupply of homes and demand weakened by persistently high borrowing costs.
Home values have fallen 27% since their peak in 2021 and are close to the lowest levels since 2016 in recent months.
Commercial landlords like Sun Hung Kai are also grappling with record-high office vacancies, limiting room for rental growth. The vacancy rate in the city was at 16.8% at the end of last year, the highest since records began in 2006, data from Colliers International show.
