Hong Kong skyscrapers world’s most expensive, Knight Frank says

SINGAPORE: Skyscrapers in Hong Kong are the world’s most expensive commercial real estate assets, according to Knight Frank LLP.

Hong Kong skyscrapers are worth US$8,000 per square foot, about 60% more than Tokyo’s tall towers, according to a Knight Frank report released Wednesday. The analysis used rents and prime yields to value office towers as of the fourth quarter of 2016.

“Capital values of Asia’s tallest towers showed significant divergence with Hong Kong sitting at the top, and Mumbai at the bottom of the global rankings,” Nicholas Holt, head of research for Asia Pacific at Knight Frank, said in the report. 

“In Hong Kong, strong demand and a lack of new land supply continues to push values higher, while the structure of the Mumbai office market has tended to see office markets develop outwards rather than upwards.”

Henderson Land Development Co.’s recent US$3bil acquisition of a five-story car park in Hong Kong, where it plans to build an office tower, underscores the frenzied state of the city’s property market, Knight Frank said. The sale sets the world’s most expensive city even further apart from its rivals, according to the report.

Savills has set an indicative price of HK$24.5bil (US$3.1bil) for the sale of Langham Place Office Tower in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok district, which would be a record for an office building in the city. - Bloomberg