Family sells The Peak villas at 35% discount as Hong Kong’s property woes hurt city elite
- Proceeds from the sale of the four town houses on 46 Plantation Road will be used to repay a private loan of as much as HK$1.6 billion due in January 2025, a source said
The family of Ho Shung-pun, a low-key clan of real estate developers in Hong Kong, sold four mansions on The Peak for a 35-per cent discount to market prices to repay debt, sources said, as the city’s property woes have now extended to even the wealthiest elites of the population.
The town houses A to D at No. 46 Plantation Road on The Peak were sold on Wednesday for a combined HK$1.1 billion (US$141 million), according to government records. The four homes each measure between 4,060 and 4,432 sq ft (411.8 square metres) in size.
A buyer has paid HK$55 million, or 5 per cent of the sales price, as the initial deposit for the purchase, said Raymond Lee, the chief executive for Hong Kong, Macau and Greater China at Savills, which brokered the deal.
“The buyer is a local with financial strength,” Lee said, declining to divulge the buyer’s name. “He paid cash and will complete the deal on August 8.”
The proceeds of the sale will be used to repay a HK$1.6 billion private loan extended by Gaw Capital due in January 2025, a source said. The loan was securitised against the property at 46 Plantation Road with an interest rate in the “teens”, the source said.
The transaction price works out to about HK$65,000 per square foot, about 50 per cent less than the valuation at the height of Hong Kong’s property market in 2017, Lee said.
The present market value of residential property along Plantation Road is about HK$100,000 per square foot, according to an agent. A 3,221 sq ft house at 51 Plantation Road is currently asking for HK$340 million, or HK$105,000 per square foot, the agent said.
