Rare residential sites located on The Peak have caught the attention of consortiums, as evidenced by the recent sale of a super luxury site at a record-breaking price of HK$5 billion.
Last week, an expensive housing site transaction took place on The Peak. The land located at 30-38 Magazine Gap Road, which was owned by the family of Loke Yew, the tin mining king in Malaysia, for over 70 years, was sold to a consortium for HK$5 billion.
That is the third highest price ever paid for residential land in Hong Kong, and the sale came at a premium of about HK$100,420 per square foot.
The site, with an area of about 66,650 square feet, was put up for sale by a surveyor company in February.
At that time, it was rumored that a local consortium was in the process of negotiating a deal for the site, and the market price was said to be over HK$4.3 billion.
According to industry insiders, the site's expansive area is rare and highly sought after in the luxury property market, making it attractive to various consortia.
Typically, sites of this nature have high prices, but limited market supply.
And this particular sale was completed within just two months, indicating that it was a lucrative deal for all parties involved.
The project, now known as Cameron Mansions, was constructed in 1951 and comprises a three-story building with three different types of units, ranging from approximately 1,800 to 2,300 square feet.
The property was put up for sale by a surveyor firm as early as 2019, with an initial asking price of HK$5 billion to HK$6 billion.
However, the property was eventually withdrawn from the market.
CHFT Advisory & Appraisal said the land is a sizable development.
Situated on The Peak, the address boasts a high degree of privacy and commands stunning panoramic vistas of Victoria Harbour, which adds to its great redevelopment value.
It is predicted that the site could be redeveloped into a super-luxury house and sold for as much as HK$200,000 per sq ft.
Meanwhile, Alex Leung, the chief surveyor of CHFT, expressed his opinion that due to the current uncertain economic outlook, the luxury property market may require additional time to recover fully.
Additionally, the local surveyor company Pruden said the transaction price to some extent reflects that the super expensive properties are less affected by economic and other factors.
Although this is the third highest price in Hong Kong land history, the first place is still held by 39 Shouson Hill Road, which was purchased by China Resources Land (1109) from the Shouson Chow family in 2018 for more than HK$5.9 billion, or a per-square-foot price of about HK$86,000.
The second highest is Ho Tung Garden on The Peak, purchased by "Chongqing Li Ka-shing" Zhang Songqiao from the descendants of Ho Tung in 2015 for HK$5.1 billion, which Zhang later redeveloped into two super villas.
