Ex-Swire boss in luxury foray

Keith Kerr, the former chairman of Swire Properties (1972), has gained permission to redevelop a site in Repulse Bay into a super-luxury project.

The 12-story property at 125 Repulse Bay Road, with a gross floor area of 30,894 square feet, was bought by Kerr in December for HK$1.012 billion.

He bought the site through a company named Joyful Colour and plans to turn the building into a super-luxury mansion, mainly composed of duplex units.

Meanwhile, there were a total of 41,208 licensed agents in Hong Kong on August 31, rising by 175 month on month to a record high, data from the Estate Agents Authority shows.

Of these, the number with a salesperson's license reached 22,704, an increase of 49.

Those with an individual estate agent's license, commonly known as "E-license," increased by 126 month on month to 18,504.

The number of agency branches increased by 29 to 7,130.

There has been an upward trend for three consecutive months, showing the active expansion of real estate agencies.

There were a total of 3,903 company licenses as of the end of last month, increasing by 12 compared with the month before.

Separately, the total number of registrations of properties last month, including first-hand private buildings, second-hand residential buildings, first-hand public housing, industrial and commercial stores, pure parking spaces, and others, fell by about 21 percent month on month to a half-year low of 7,862, partly because of the rising property prices, said Midland Realty.

It is worth noting that although the overall registration volume in August hit a six-month low, the total number of registrations in the first eight months reached 68,155, which is about 49.1 percent higher than that of a year ago, and hit a nine-year high, the agency said.