SHKP has spent $200m to build a show flat at Two IFC for its residential project
In the latest example of extravagant promotions in Hong Kong, a developer has splashed out $200 million to build a show flat that takes up 50,000 sqft in Two IFC - one of the most expensive office towers in town.
Selling is all about marketing these days, especially for homes that buyers are paying millions for without visiting the actual flat they purchase. Many believe it is still a mind-boggling price for a show flat that will be torn down once sales are completed.
Sun Hung Kai Properties, the developer of The Arch near Kowloon Station that the show flat represents, probably thinks the money is well spent. The marketing cost translates into a tiny fraction of the anticipated total sales revenue for the 1,054 units. The cheapest flats are about 530 sqft and face away from the sea. They would cost about $6 million each, or $11,000 per sqft, according to the firm.
The developer is known as the master of illusion. During the intensive marketing campaign for Park Island in Ma Wan last year, SHKP built a show flat on a beach in a bid to highlight the project's proximity to the sea.
The show flat's price only includes the building cost - not the monthly rental for the space in the developer-owned office tower which is leasing at about $50 per sqft at the moment, according to Victor Lui Ting, the executive director of Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency, the marketing arm of Sun Hung Kai Properties.