Advertisement
Advertisement
Shek O
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more

Remote location hampers demand for prestige homes

Shek O

Luxury house prices around the Shek O Country Club have risen and slumped along with the rest of the property market over the past decade.

One unfortunate buyer was Cheong Pin-chuan, who paid $201 million for a Shek O house in the summer of 1997 - the peak of Hong Kong's property boom. Three years later the house was sold for $105 million.

However, other Shek O property buyers have not fared so badly. In 2000 Akai Holdings chairman James Ting sold his property to Chow Yei-ching, the boss of construction and engineering firm Chevalier, for $100 million.

Mr Ting had bought the property in 1993 for $37.5 million.

Lui Che-woo, chairman of property and construction firm K.Wah International Holdings, acquired his Shek O property for $27 million in 1993.

Jardine Matheson's group strategy director Brian Keelan, who joined the hong from UBS Warburg in London in 2001, is renting one of Shek O's houses for $260,000 a month under a five-year sub-lease which runs until the end of 2006.

Apart from exclusive single houses in Shek O Road, the Shek O property market remains virtually untouched. On average, less than one transaction has been made each year since 1995 and most are in Shek O Headland.

According to property agencies, some of the prominent houses in Shek O Headland are owned by local wealthy families. 'While only foreign people were admitted into the country club before the 1970s, wealthy local families acquired houses or sites in Shek O Headland,' said Anna Chan, a senior manager of Ricacorp Properties.

Ian Lim Wai-chuen of Centaline Property Agency said agents were not eager to do business in Shek O due to its remoteness and lack of demand and supply.

'Most customers are not familiar with the district. Flat seekers would look at districts like Repulse Bay, where more celebrities reside,' Mr Li said.

While agents are not sure about a customer's interest, they are less willing to step into a geographically remote market with a lack of clear price indication.'

He said there were only a couple of properties in Shek O on sale at the moment.

The average price for a house with a sea view is about $5,000 per square foot in Shek O Headland, according to Mr Lim.

Sizes varied in Shek O Headland from less than 2,000 sqft houses and apartments to 4,000 sqft, Mr Lim said.

Post