Distressed Hong Kong Investor Sells Top Floor of BOA Tower for a Third Off 2018 Record

Hong Kong property investors continue to suffer from the decline of the city’s commercial real estate values, with a cash-strapped player recently parting with a floor in the Bank of America Tower for more than a third less than the market’s peak price eight years ago.

Local property firm Winland Group has signed a provisional agreement to offload its former headquarters on the 37th floor of the grade A office tower in Admiralty for HK$198 million ($25.4 million), Land Registry records showed.

With the penthouse floor of the office tower measuring 5,170 square feet (480 square metres) in saleable area, Winland Group, which is controlled by local investor Edwin Lun Yiu-kay, parted with the asset for approximately HK$38,298 per square foot.

That price represents a 34 percent markdown from the HK$57,952 per square foot which an investor paid in 2018, when the 23rd floor changed hands for HK$702 million, according to calculations by Hong Kong-based CHFT Advisory and Appraisal.

“We have seen signs of recovery in the residential market, and even some bounce back in late 2025. However, the office market has remained in its downward trend. In this context, the transaction still represents a solid outcome given the current office market sentiment,” Bobby Mak, real estate valuer at Hong Kong-based CHFT Advisory and Appraisal, told Mingtiandi.

Bargain Buy

Located at 12 Harcourt Road in Hong Kong’s traditional commercial hub, the Bank of America Tower is within a few blocks of both the Central and Admiralty MTR stations, and is neighbours with new office landmarks Cheung Kong Centre II and The Henderson.

The incoming owner of the tower’s penthouse floor is Vobile Group, a Santa Clara-based software company that helps movie studios and TV networks protect copyrights. The firm listed in Hong Kong in 2018 and currently leases an office in Wharf Properties’ Times Square complex in Causeway Bay.

The transaction represents a 14 percent discount from Winland’s HK$231 million asking price in November, when it appointed Savills to shop the property. Vobile Group’s purchase also gives the company two private rooftop gardens and a pair of parking spots, according to public records.

Winland had purchased one unit on the 37th floor for HK$16.38 million in 2004 and acquired the floor’s remaining units for HK$88.8 million in 2009, according to local media accounts.

The tower’s highest-value whole-floor transaction took place in 2018, when Qiu Yafu, whose company controlled fashion brands including Bally and Aquascutum, had set the 2018 price record for the purchase of the 23rd floor before a creditor sold that property in 2024 for HK$250 million after the mainland fashion mogul and companies under the control of his Shandong Ruyi Group defaulted on more than $1.3 billion in debt.

Downsizing Continues

Controlled by tycoon Edwin Lun, Winland Group had held a number of strata properties in the Bank of America Tower and has actively been offloading assets amid financial strains in recent months.

In November, Winland sold the 36th floor in the Admiralty building to a shipping company for HK$247 million, or approximately HK$20,839 per square foot. That transaction came on the heels of Winland’s disposal of a unit on the 35th floor for  about HK$26,056 per square foot.

Still on the market is the 13th floor, which Winland tried to sell for HK$236 million last August after having asked HK$350 million for the property in December 2024.

Further Price Drop Looms

The top floor of the Bank of America Tower is changing hands as office rents in the Greater Central area began to inch upwards in recent weeks after a six-year slide, as the city’s recovering financial markets have rekindled office leasing demand.

Office rents in Central, along with the neighbouring Admiralty and Sheung Wan areas climbed 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, but were still down 2.7 percent since the end of 2024, according to Cushman & Wakefield. 

With capital values for grade A offices in Hong Kong having fallen 6.9 percent in 2025, according to JLL, the agency forecasts another 5 percent decline in asset prices this year.