$11m home profit for Huawei boss

Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of China tech giant Huawei Technologies, has sold a duplex at Island Harbourview atop Olympic MTR station for HK$29.9 million, or about HK$21,000 per square foot.

That came with wealthy mainlanders selling property in Hong Kong.

Additionally, bosses of some cash-strapped mainland development firms have disposed of assets while others turned to buying property in other places including Singapore.

Meng made a paper gain of HK$11.2 million by selling a higher-floor, 1,407-sq-ft home after holding it for nine years.

She purchased it in December 2013 for HK$18.7 million - a 60 percent appreciation in value.

The mainland buyer is Sun Zhengning, who shares a name with a managing partner at Sequoia China Healthcare.

It was said Meng held HK$85 million worth of properties in Hong Kong, including the duplex.

Early this year saw Chinese film director Feng Xiaogang sell a 1,933-sq-ft luxury home at Regence Royale for HK$118 million - for a HK$60 million profit after holding the property for 13 years.

Meantime, Singapore's new home sales surged to their highest in a year in May despite a hike in taxes a month earlier to try to cool the market and discourage foreign buying.

There were 1,038 new homes sold in May, up 17 percent from April, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority. The figures did not include resales.

The increase came despite April's cooling measures, which saw higher property taxes imposed on Singaporeans and permanent residents who buy additional homes as well as a jump to 60 percent for foreign buyers. Some foreign buyers remain undeterred by the hikes.

The 275-unit Blossoms by the Park, which opened two days after the cooling measures, saw four Chinese and five American buyers, according to Lim Yew Soon, a managing director of EL Development.

And the Continuum had three foreign buyers from China, Myanmar and Thailand, according to developer Hoi Hup Sunway Katong.