Hong Kong apartment sets Asia price record

Aluxury home in Hong Kong set a price record for apartment sales in Asia, even as the government seeks to tame property prices in the world’s least affordable market.

The penthouse duplex unit in Henderson Land Development’s 39 Conduit Road project was sold for about HK$522 million (Dh245.89 million), or HK$105,000 per square foot, the city’s Sing Tao daily reported yesterday, citing an unidentified person.

Hong Kong home prices hit all-time highs this year, shrugging off government restrictions to cool the market as well as concerns that another real-estate crash could deal a heavy blow to the wealth of the city’s 7.4 million people and destabilise its financial system.

Centaline Property’s Centa-City Leading Index has climbed 11 per cent this year, extending the gain in the last five years to more than 60 per cent.

Private home prices in Hong Kong climbed for a 17th straight month in July, according to the latest data released by the Rating and Valuation Department. That is the longest winning streak since 1993, Hong Kong Economic Times reported.

Luxury home prices in Hong Kong regularly break Asian records. In November, two units in phase two of Wheelock Properties’ Mount Nicholson project on Hong Kong’s prestigious Victoria Peak were sold at an average per square foot price of HK$104,800, a regional record that was trumped by the latest sale, Sing Tao reported.