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Salina Li

CK Asset Holdings, the flagship property developer of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s family, will weather the “doldrums” in the city’s commercial leasing market amid global economic uncertainties, according to chairman Victor Li Tzar-kuoi.
“No industry in this world is always well-performing, and demand for Hong Kong’s retail and office properties is indeed slow at the moment,” the eldest son of Li Ka-shing said during the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday.
“With approximately 88 per cent of our profit contribution coming from projects with recurring income, we are able to withstand the challenges of the local leasing market,” Li added.
It will take time for the Hong Kong office market to emerge from its malaise, he said.
The overall occupancy rate of CK Asset’s current investment property portfolio in Hong Kong was around 86 per cent, Li said.
Property agents estimated that CKC II, the developer’s new tower in Admiralty, was 20 per cent occupied. Li did not provide occupancy figures for the building.
“We hope that when the market improves, CKC II’s leasing performance will be better and better,” he said.
“Don’t forget, our costs are relatively cheap and easy to calculate.”

Hong Kong developers have added 8.5 million sq ft of office space since mid-2019, failing to adjust to economic conditions. As anti-government protests and the Covid-19 pandemic sent the economy into a recession, total occupied space in the city’s grade A office market contracted by 1.3 million sq ft, while rents slumped 40 per cent, according to data tracked by CBRE.
Li did not make predictions for this year’s economic outlook, as “there are so many uncertainties in the world”.
“The most important thing now is that the group is financially healthy and has the war chest to cope with any unforeseen events,” he said. “Hong Kong is going through another ‘stress test’. We are holding more cash and borrowing less.”
CK Asset’s 2024 net profit, reported in March, fell more than 21 per cent to HK$13.65 billion (US$1.8 billion), slightly above the HK$13.57 billion consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Projects developed by CK Asset and partners in Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau sold out during the year. But that was not enough to offset an 84 per cent year-on-year plunge in home sales in mainland China, which dragged the group’s property sales revenue down by 47.7 per cent to about HK$10 billion. Rental revenue rose 3.8 per cent to HK$6.1 billion, aided in large part by overseas assets like the Civitas Social Housing trust in the UK.
Hong Kong’s lived-in home prices fell for a fourth straight month in March, dragging a key market indicator to the lowest level in more than eight years. April data will be published at the end of this month.


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The group is financially healthy and has a war chest to cope with unforeseen events as Hong Kong endures a ‘stress test’, Victor Li says


The group is financially healthy and has a war chest to cope with unforeseen events as Hong Kong endures a ‘stress test’, Victor Li says.


Hong Kong developer CK Asset set to weather ‘stress test’ conditions, chairman says

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The group is financially healthy and has a war chest to cope with unforeseen events as Hong Kong endures a ‘stress test’, Victor Li says

The group is financially healthy and has a war chest to cope with unforeseen events as Hong Kong endures a ‘stress test’, Victor Li says