Hong Kong sold a residential land site in the luxurious Repulse Bay area for a record-breaking price.
Success Energy, a unit of SEA Holdings Ltd., won the site for HK$1.19 billion ($152 million), the government announced Tuesday. The 21,173 square-foot (1,967 square-meter) site can produce a maximum of about 19,055 square feet of floor area.
The bidding price translates into HK$62,355 per square foot for the plot, breaking the record for a residential site sold in government auctions. The previous record was held by a consortium including Wharf Holdings Ltd., which purchased a plot on the Peak for HK$50,011 per square foot in February last year.
The site, close to the popular Repulse Bay beach, was valued at HK$1.3 billion or HK$70,000 per square foot of floor area by Centaline Surveyors Ltd. The developer can build just three to four houses on the plot given its small size, according to James Cheung, an executive director at Centaline.
SEA Holdings plans to develop two to four houses on the site for long-term rental income, Sing Tao Daily reported, citing company management. Representatives for SEA Holdings didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
The record-breaking bid is set to boost market sentiment in the luxury residential sector, which relies heavily on wealthy mainland Chinese.
Border closures, emigration, capital outflows and possible rate hikes will challenge the luxury residential market in Hong Kong in the near future, according to Savills Plc. Luxury home sale volumes declined 39% in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, Savills data show.
Source: BloombergQuint