Magnificent heights of success
Overlooking the magnificent Victoria Harbour, The Peak is the pinnacle of luxury property in Hong Kong.
Severn Road, which winds around Mount Gough just below Peak Road, is the most expensive residential street in the world - at HK$50,725 per square foot, up 72 per cent in a year. It usurps a position previously held by Avenue Princesse Grace in Monte Carlo, according to the Wall Street Journal group.
The old colonial homes on The Peak tend not to change hands frequently, says Terri Lai Tak-yee, district associate director for The Peak at Centaline Properties.
He adds: 'Once mainland Chinese buyers acquire their property, they are not going to put it up for rent. They just leave it there, like a collection.'
In July last year, the Nan Fung Group and Wheelock Properties jointly bought the former government staff quarters at 103 Mount Nicholson Road for HK$10.4 billion in a government land auction.
The developers are building townhouses and apartments at the site.
'To have an address on The Peak signals a person has reached the heights not just financially but socially,' says Ricky Wong, managing director of Wheelock Properties. 'The shortage of quality properties on The Peak equals solid investment value in the long run.'
Donald Choi, managing director of the Nan Fung Group, says even if investors are prepared to pay the high prices, supply is still scarce.'
Henderson Land chairman Lee Shau-kee's family spent HK$1.82 billion for a 50,000 sqft site at 35 Barker Road during a private auction in May last year, making it the most expensive site in the world in terms of gross floor area. Mount Kellett Road is a hive of activity.
Sun Hung Kai Properties is building a project at No12, while No72 is under redevelopment by Sea Group.
At No26, Global Success Enterprise is rebuilding three luxury houses.
'I don't think people have the urge to sell [at the moment], so I don't think the supply will go up,' says William Lau Man-wa, a sales director at Midland Realty.
According to Knight Frank, average prices on The Peak run at HK$24,088 per square foot. Those prices, set in February, are up 16.2 per cent from the previous year.
Rents have advanced at almost exactly the same pace in the last year.
They were running at HK$62 per square foot in February, up 16.3 per cent.
A four-bedroom, 3,107 sqft flat on Mount Kellett Road was listed in April by Centaline Stately Home for HK$210,000 per month, or HK$68 per square foot.
