$73M Office Floor Sets New Price Record in HK’s Admiralty

A high floor of Hong Kong’s Far East Finance Centre in Admiralty has sold for HK$568 million ($72.6 million) to local developer Circle Property Development, according to media reports.

The 41-storey grade A office building is situated on the eastern edge of the city’s downtown business district. The floor was sold for HK$52,600 ($6,726) per square foot, surpassing Admiralty’s previous high price of HK$50,000 ($6,407) per square foot achieved in November with the sale of a floor in the same building.

The deal also represents the second-highest unit price paid for a strata-titled office floor in the city, behind the record-breaking transaction of a floor in Central’s The Center for HK$55,854 ($7,152) per square foot.

Root Seller Cashes in His Admiralty Chips

The buyers, as identified by local media, are Circle Holdings chairman Tam Fung King and related parties. Tam’s Circle Holdings is the parent company of mid-sized player Circle Property Development, which has a portfolio of office, retail and residential properties in Hong Kong, mainland China and London. The seller, Hong Kong-listed Asia Cassava Resources, had purchased the floor in 2004 for HK$82 million ($11 million), which indicates a profit of HK$486 million ($62 million) in 14 years for the seller of dried cassava chips.

The property is currently leased to two tenants paying a combined monthly rent of HK$1.3 million ($166,235), equating to over 2 percent rental yield for the buyer.

Circle Property Development has a long-time habit of buying up strata-titled floors in Hong Kong’s core business district. In 2015, the company purchased a floor in Central’s World-Wide House for HK$509 million ($66 million) from The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. Earlier in 2012, Circle Property acquired a floor in Admiralty’s landmark Lippo Centre for HK$298 million ($38 million).