ExclusiveHong Kong’s ‘King of Shops’ Edwin Leong adds Asia’s priciest apartments to his portfolio

Edwin Leong Siu-hung, the founder of Tai Hung Fai Enterprise and Hong Kong’s 17th-wealthiest businessman of 2016, has been confirmed as the buyer of Asia’s most expensive residential property.

Leong and a family member paid a total of HK$1.22 billion (US$157.3 million) for three units of the exclusive Mount Nicholson apartments at The Peak on November 8.

Leong bought a 4,566 sq ft unit on the seventh floor for HK$312 million, or HK$68,481 per square foot, while a relative bought two adjoining units on the 16th floor with a combined floor area of 8,702 sq ft for HK$912 million. At HK$104,803 per square foot, this sets the record as the most expensive apartment in Asia.

“I fell in love with the property at first sight,” Leong told the South China Morning Post by phone. “I visited Mount Nicholson five times and only won the tender on the third attempt.”

Leong, 64, is a property developer with more than 1,000 shops, industrial units, offices, parking lots, hotels and serviced apartments in his portfolio.

With his net worth estimated at US$3.9 billion, Leong said the record price he had paid for Mount Nicholson meant the rental yield was likely to be less than 1 per cent. He and his relatives would move into the apartments after a year of renovations, he said, declining to identify his relatives.