Luxury site sees huge price drop

Price cuts were recorded in local property market, with a luxury residential site at 20 Perkins Road in Jardine's Lookout changing hands for HK$850 million, a 40 percent drop from a recent peak.

The plot has a size of 17,094 square feet, upon which is a two-story house aged over 60 years and sized 5,353 sq ft. There is also a garden measuring over 10,000 sq ft, as well as a garage.

The average price totaled over HK$82,000 if calculated based on a gross floor area of 10,256 sq ft. In comparison, a house on the same road in 2018 changed hands at an average price of HK$145,000 per sq ft. The corporate buyer is expected to pay a stamp duty of HK$255 million, or 30 percent of the purchase price.

In the secondary market, a 1,365-sq-ft flat at Residence Bel-air, Telegraph Bay, fetched HK$37 million, or HK$27,106 per sq ft, after HK$4 million was cut from the initial asking price.

A 1,049 sq ft flat at Sorrento in West Kowloon sold for HK$26.28 million, or HK$25,052 per sq ft, after HK$8.72 million was slashed from the original asking price. The vendor bought the flat at HK$5.03 million during the 2003 SARS period and earned 4.2 times the original price.

Meanwhile, the Admiralty office vacancy rate rose to a record high of 8.32 percent, according to Centaline Commercial. For grade-A offices in Hong Kong Island as a whole, the vacancy rate rose for a 13th consecutive month to 7.53 percent in July.