Duff & Phelps Moves HQ to Three Pacific Place and More Hong Kong Real Estate Headlines

Leading today’s Hong Kong real estate news, reports of a market downturn seem to still be unconfirmed rumours last week in the city’s prime business districts as new office leases and asset sales pushed the upper limits of market price ranges. In the grade A leasing realm, the trend of companies pushing beyond Central continues as US advisory firm Duff & Phelps leased a 15,000 square foot space in Three Pacific Place in Admiralty and in the strata-title commercial market Chinese developer Shimao Property sold a whole floor of Admiralty’s Lippo Centre for a record high price per square foot. Read on for all these stories and more in the world’s most expensive real estate market.

Duff & Phelps Moves to Three Pacific Place

Investment advisory firm Duff & Phelps has agreed to lease a 15,000 square foot (1,394 square metre) space in Swire Properties’ Three Pacific Place as its new Hong Kong headquarters, per local media reports.

The US-based firm will be relocating to the new office, which is around three-times the size of its current home in Hongkong Land’s The Landmark on Queen’s Road Central in Central, during the second quarter of next year, according to a Ming Pao account. The US-based firm is said to be paying a total of about HK$1.7 million (US$217,000) per month, or around HK$115 per square foot for its new home. Read more>>

Shimao Sells Lippo Centre Floor for HK$55K Per Square Foot

Shanghai-based developer Shimao Property is said to have sold the 38th floor of Tower 1 in Admiralty’s Lippo Centre for a record price of HK$55,294 per square foot according to an account by Ming Pao on Thursday citing sources familiar with the transaction.

The 18,085 square foot (1,680 square metre) floor, used as the Hong Kong-listed developer’s office in the city, was reportedly traded for HK$1 billion (US$127.8 million), with the price per square metre being the highest recorded to date in the twin-tower complex. Read more>>

Henderson Takes Over SOHO Site for HK$490M

Henderson Land Development paid around HK$490 million (US$62.6 million) for 31 flats and shops in an aged building on Elgin Street in Central’s SOHO entertainment district at an average purchase price of HK$34,000 per square foot for residential units and HK$44,000 per square foot for shops, according to an account in the Hong Kong Economic Times.  

The set of acquisitions takes the Hong Kong-listed developer’s ownership in a row of properties in the entertainment district above the 80 percent threshold necessary to apply for a compulsory sale, with the aggregated site potentially yielding 150,000 square feet of new space, should it be redeveloped. Read more>>

House on the Peak Sells for HK$122,000 Per Square Foot

A house in Sun Hung Kai Properties’ Twelve Peaks project sold to an unidentified buyer for HK$450 million (US$57.5 million) late last month, according to an account in the Hong Kong Economic Journal.

The tender sale for unit 10 in Twelve Peaks, a 3,744 square foot (348 square metre) house on Victoria Peak, works out to a unit price of HK$122,000 per square foot, well below the record HK$143,000 per square foot that another home in the same project traded for earlier in the month. Read more>>

Third House in SHK’s Twelve Peaks Sold in Three Weeks

Following the HK$450 million sale of house number 10 in Sun Hung Kai’s Twelve Peaks project late last month, unit number nine in the same complex on Victoria Peak was reported on Thursday to have sold for HK$458 million (US$58.6 million) or HK$125,200 per square foot, according to an account by Ming Pao.

The tender for the 3,657 square foot home sold for a price 15 percent above the starting price for the sale. Ten of the twelve posh townhouses on The Peak have now been sold, providing revenue of more than HK$5 billion for the developer. Read more>>

Tuen Mun Project Racks Up HK$340M in Office Sales in a Month

One Vista, an office project in Tuen Mun in the western New Territories recently launched by Chinese developer Jiayuan International and the Tang family’s Stan Group, racked up HK$340 million in sales after buyers took 64 office units made available since the project launched sales in earlier last month, the developer said on Friday.

The highest-price transaction in the former industrial building five-minutes’ walking distance from the Tuen Mun MTR station on San Hop Lane went to an unnamed buyer who paid HK$11,315 per square foot to purchase a 779 square foot office for HK$8.8 million, according to Ming Pao. Read more>>

CITIC Sells Three Ho Man Tin Homes

Hong Kong-listed CITIC Limited sold three homes from its upmarket Kadooria project on Kadoorie Avenue in Kowloon’s affluent Ho Man Tin neighbourhood last week, with the price ranging from HK$41,789 per square foot to HK$45,402 per square foot.

The Hong Kong subsidiary of China’s state-owned CITIC Group, pocketed HK$81.6 million from the sale of a 1,798 square foot while a flat on the third floor was sold for HK$81.3 million and an underground unit changed hands for HK$78.7 million. Read more>>

New World Pondering CWB Mansion Sales

Local developer New World Development is said to have received a HK$2 billion (US$255 million) offer for its holdings in the Sun On Mansion building near the Causeway Bay MTR station.

New World is believed to hold more than 80 percent of the 54-year-old commercial building on Cannon Street, making it eligible to apply for a compulsory sale of the remaining ownership and the right to develop up to 85,000 square feet of new commercial space on the site. Local agency-turned investor Winland Group Limited is said to have been the buyer most interested in the property, according to an account in the Hong Kong Economic Journal citing sources familiar with the deal. Read more>>

Wang On Sets Up Tender for Site Near HKU

Locally listed-developer Wang On Properties has arranged a tender for sale of residential sites that it owns on Pok Fu Lam Road near the University of Hong Kong after it paid a total HK$680 million (US$87 million) over the past two years to take control of the 28,500 square foot site.

Currently the site at the western end of Hong Kong Island is occupied by a luxury block composed of two four-floor buildings including 16 homes and 16 parking spaces, according to an account by Ming Pao. Read more>>

Sai Kung House Sells for Nearly HK$70K Per Square Foot

A house in Chinachem’s high-end project Serenity Point near Clear Water Bay in Sai Kung District set a new high-water mark for the New Territories when it sold last month for the equivalent of HK$69,837 per square foot, according to an account in the Hong Kong Economic Journal.

An unidentified buyer purchased the house for a bidding of HK$188 million, winning the four-bedroom 2,692 square foot (250 square metre) home along with a 5,124 square foot garden, a garage and a swimming pool. Read more>>

Tune in again later for more Hong Kong news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.