'King of Cassettes' off-loads Pok Fu Lam home for over $300m to ease cash burdens

Veteran investor David Chan Ping-chi, known locally as the "King of Cassettes," sold his four-story self-use luxury house in Pok Fu Lam on his own for more than HK$300 million amid financial woes.

Chan personally sold the property for HK$315 million, or HK$51,800 per square foot – more than 12 times higher than its purchase price of HK$23.5 million in 1988, representing a paper gain of HK$291.5 million.

The 6,083-sq-ft property is linked to a garden and offers a view of the sea.

Chan confirmed the transaction with The Standard's sister newspaper, Sing Tao Daily.

Facing liquidity problems, Chan had mortgaged the house multiple times. Earlier, the bank put it up for tender via an agent to seek around HK$350 million, but it failed to sell.

Chan and his family had lived in the house since the 1980s, only moving out recently.

He had invested in multiple residential properties in Pok Fu Lam over the years and began to sell them in the last two. Among them is a 2,311-sq-ft four-bedroom unit of Scenic Villas for HK$46 million, or HK$19,905 per sq ft.

HELEN ZHONG