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Cheryl Arcibal

Minna Honkanen could not have anticipated the seismic events that would grip Hong Kong after she decided to try her luck there in early 2019.
Two months after she arrived, unprecedented social unrest engulfed the city, followed immediately by the coronavirus pandemic, which shut borders and restricted travel for more than two years.
Least of all did the Finnish national imagine she would become a luxury property agent in one of the world’s most expensive real estate markets, securing exclusive deals typically reserved for local brokers with a language advantage.
“Finland is a little too quiet for me,” she said. “I enjoy meeting new people. In Hong Kong, it is easy to network.”
Now a senior manager overseeing the Hong Kong market at Landscope Realty, Honkanen is busy marketing a penthouse duplex worth HK$238 million (US$30.45 million). The owners, who have held the property at The Arch above Kowloon Station for 10 years, granted Landscope an exclusive listing after four years of regular contact with her by text.

Before finding success in Hong Kong, Honkanen worked in Greece and Portugal, where she joined the sales team of a hotel group. She also had a stint in Thailand before visiting Shanghai at the suggestion of a Chinese friend based in Finland.
Describing herself as “adventurous”, she said she booked the next available flight without hesitation.
“I had never been to China, but my friend’s family lives in Shanghai, so I went and she showed me around and I fell in love with the city,” Honkanen said of her first visit to the mainland. “So many skyscrapers, and the skyline was just amazing.”
Between jobs, she returned to Finland to plan her next steps. Another friend, who worked as a lawyer in Dubai, invited her to visit to see if she was keen to find work there.
“When I came to Dubai, I saw that flights to Hong Kong were cheap and I thought I could extend my holiday,” Honkanen said. “I came here to stay for two weeks, but once I was here, I really liked it so much and I said, ‘This is my destiny. I want to stay here’.”
She was drawn to Hong Kong’s fast-paced, driven lifestyle and quickly built a circle of friends. Easy access to hiking trails and beaches only added to the attraction. Honkanen cancelled her return ticket, extended her accommodation and began looking for a job.
It was not easy, but in her first month a property agency agreed to employ her – on the condition that she pass the exam for a real estate licence. She failed twice, falling short on her second attempt by a single point.
“They did not say what I got wrong so I tried again and finally passed,” she said. But shortly after she obtained her licence, the city was rocked by protests, clouding the property market outlook. The following year, the pandemic brought social distancing measures.
At Landscope, she focuses on luxury property sales, with most of her clients local.
“I would usually have no problem communicating with them,” she said.
Her latest deal – the penthouse duplex at The Arch – came after years of patiently gaining the trust of one of the owners, a businessman from the mainland. Despite mainly communicating in Chinese, she had tools and colleagues to support her.
“There’s always a way,” she said.
The owners, who wanted to find a smaller place after the couple’s children moved overseas following their studies, initially listed the property five years ago for HK$350 million. The luxury flat spans 2,522 sq ft of saleable area, with a roof area of 877 sq ft, and boasts four bedrooms and four bathrooms, two of which are en suite, as well as a study, a modern kitchen and a private terrace.
“They’re serious about selling the property but they are not in distress. They just wanted a smaller flat,” she said.
Honkanen believes that Hong Kong’s property market is recovering, with Landscope estimating a 3 to 5 per cent increase in luxury home prices this year.
“It’s more positive this year and people are more confident as they are making offers and buying properties,” she said. “It’s not a quiet year but a year of action.”


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LUXE Homes

A Finnish national turned a two-week trip into a new career, and now manages high-end listings in one of the world’s top real estate markets


A Finnish national turned a two-week trip into a new career, and now manages high-end listings in one of the world’s top real estate markets.


Hong Kong luxury real estate: how a European agent won US$30.45 million penthouse listing

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A Finnish national turned a two-week trip into a new career, and now manages high-end listings in one of the world’s top real estate markets

A Finnish national turned a two-week trip into a new career, and now manages high-end listings in one of the world’s top real estate markets