Hong Kong’s Chinachem Acquires North Point Residential Site for $242M

Chinachem Group is set to add around 370 new homes to Hong Kong’s recovering housing market after acquiring an aging block of flats in the city’s North Point area for HK$1.9 billion ($242 million).

Chinachem highlighted the development potential of the 1983-vintage building at 1 North Point Terrace in a press release on Monday, as well as the city’s improving housing market.

“North Point Terrace represents a strategic addition to our Hong Kong Island portfolio,” Chinachem CEO and executive director Andy Cheung said. “It reflects our ongoing efforts to grow our presence in key locations and reinforces our positive outlook as we continue to invest and expand our business.”

The Hong Kong island acquisition comes seven months after Chinachem bested eight other bidders to purchase a residential site in Tsuen Wan for HK$2.48 billion as developers in the city rebuild land banks amidst a housing market recovery.

Residential Rebound

Chinachem paid the equivalent of HK$10,504 per square foot of accommodation for the property, with Vincent Cheung, managing director of Vincorn Consulting and Appraisal Limited, estimate that homes in the new project could command HK$25,800 to HK$28,000 per square foot of saleable area. 

Homes at New World Development’s State Pavilia project nearby sell for HK$22,500 per square foot on average with high floors fetching up to HK$36,000 per square foot.

Chinachem is adding this building to its land bank as home prices have risen 11.1 percent from March 2025 through April this year, although prices are still about 20 percent below their 2021 peak, according to data from the Rating and Valuation Department.

Developers are responding to the rebound in home prices. From January through May this year, the government sold four plots of land for residential development for a total of HK$6.43 billion, a 432 percent increase in value over the two plots sold in the corresponding period last year, according to official records.

Destined for Density

Situated atop Fortress Hill, in eastern Hong Kong island’s North Point neighbourhood, 1 North Point Terrace is about a seven-minute walk from Fortress Hill MTR station.

Currently occupying 1 North Point Terrace is a 22-storey residential building completed in 1983 that offers 168 units ranging to over 1,200 square feet in size. Chinachem is purchasing the property from private developer St. Louis Land Investment, according to sources who spoke with Mingtiandi.

The site spans approximately 22,610 square feet (2,101 square metres) and can yield about 180,880 square feet of gross floor area, according to Vincorn’s Cheung. 

Chinachem could build around 370 residential units on the site, according to Bobby Mak, real estate valuer at Hong Kong-based CHFT Advisory and Appraisal. “Developers tend to target small families and now provide flats with smaller flat size,” said Mak. 

Sea View Potential

Both Cheung and Mak point out that the existing building uses 92 percent of the site’s available gross floor area, providing little headroom for the Chinachem to build a larger tower on the site.

With a new building permitted to reach up to 130 metres above sea level, Chinachem has the opportunity to build several floors higher than the existing tower (which stands 87 metres above sea level) to offer improved views to future homebuyers. 

“The new owner could redevelop into a taller building, gaining some 15 additional storeys,” said Mak. “The top 6-10 floors might even enjoy harbour views.”

CBRE brokered the deal through a competitive private tender process, the consultancy said in a release.

Market Recovery

Chinachem is adding its Fortress Hill project after Hong Kongers signed 26,022 purchase agreements for nearly HK$226 million in homes during the first four months of 2026, representing a 44.7 percent increase in deals and a 72.6 percent jump in consideration, per Rating and Valuation Department data. 

Goldman Sachs last month raised its forecast for Hong Kong home price growth for 2026 to 15 percent, up from a previous 12 percent.

Last month saw a residential site in Tung Chung drawing six bids to sell for HK$1.63 billion or about HK$3,052 per square foot of accommodation, exceeding analysts’ estimates and twice as much as what an adjacent site sold in February 2025. The adjacent site drew four bids after the government sweetened the conditions following a sale failure in September 2023.

Kerry Properties picked up three sites in Mid-Levels West, Shau Kei Wan and Kowloon Tong over two months earlier this year, spending roughly HK$2.2 billion.