Chinese builders pay record HK$16.86 billion for Ap Lei Chau site
Property agents expect apartments on the site to sell for at least HK$32,000 per square foot, a record for Ap Lei Chau
Two Chinese developers paid a record HK$16.86 billion (US$2.17 billion) for a plot of residential land at Ap Lei Chau, topping market valuations by almost 50 per cent, making it Hong Kong’s most expensive lump-sum sale to date.
With a total gross floor area of 762,091 sq ft, the price translates to HK$22,118 per square foot in land cost. Property agents expect apartments on the site to sell for at least HK$32,000 per square foot, a record for the district.
Ap Lei Chau, Cantonese for “duck’s tongue peninsula”, is a small island connected by a bridge to the south of Hong Kong Island near the Aberdeen fish market.
The sale is the government’s largest lump-sum sale, exceeding the HK$11.8 billion fetched in 1997 for a Siu Sai Wan site that is now home of Island Resort.
The record price undermines the assertion by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying that a November 2016 policy to raise the stamp duty for individual second-home buyers to 15 per cent had “achieved its goal” in deterring speculative buyers.