Luxury market dismisses interest rate clouds seen on mass-market horizon Sun Hung Kai Properties yesterday said it sold a 5,353 square foot penthouse at its luxury apartment complex the Arch for a record $168 million, or $31,300 per square foot. The transaction represents the highest per-unit price recorded, trumping the $28,000 per square foot paid last year for a flat in Kerry Properties' Branksome Crest in the Mid-Levels. Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency executive director Victor Lui Ting said demand for luxury flats in the 1,054-unit project, built on reclaimed land in West Kowloon, was unprecedented. 'People are offering up to $32,000 per square foot for penthouses. We now hope to achieve as much as $38,000 per square foot,' said Mr Lui, who expects to sell about 300 units in the project this week for $5 billion. Real Estate Developers Association chairman Stanley Ho Hung-sun said yesterday that rising interest rates would have little impact on the property market, which remained on a clear upward trend. Agents confirmed luxury property sales showed no signs of cooling off despite increasing interest rates and concerns over the health of the mass housing market. HKR International has sold a 2,312-square-foot house at Le Bleu, in the second phase of Coastal Skyline in Tung Chung, for $21.5 million. The price translates into $9,299 per square foot for the house alone, a record in the district and comparable to home values in traditional luxury areas such as Yau Yat Tsuen. 'The $9,299 price tag does not factor in the value of the 1,200-sq-ft garden, worth about $2 million,' said Violet Lam Hung, the marketing manager of Hong Kong Resort, an HKR unit. Pacific Century Premium Developments sold a 98-unit tower in its Residence Bel-Air for about $1 billion, or $8,300 per square foot, to investor Lobo Law Ka-po. Property stocks led the rally on the market yesterday, with the Hang Seng property sub-index climbing 1.79 per cent, against a 1.04 per cent gain in the Hang Seng Index. Shares in SHKP advanced 2.11 per cent to $72.50.
