Hong Kong investors continue to offload property assets at discounts amid high interest rates, and consultants expect more financially stressed owners will be forced into the same position in coming months.
The family of minibus tycoon Ma Ah-muk is selling the 45th and 27th floors of The Center, a 73-storey skyscraper in Hong Kong’s Central business district that was once the most expensive in the world.
The floors have been broken down into 13 smaller units to be sold individually, according to Centaline Commercial, the sole agent. The units range from 1,842 sq ft to 9,565 sq ft. The owner will first offer eight units with an intended price starting from HK$21,800 (US$2,800) per square foot – about 34 per cent below the HK$33,000 Ma paid in 2018.
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Ma was part of a consortium that gave The Center its status as the world’s most expensive skyscraper in May of that year, when the city’s wealthiest man, Li Ka-shing, shrewdly sold it at a property-market peak. The group of 10 investors bought 48 floors from Li’s CK Asset for HK$40.2 billion.
Ma’s family owns more than 10 floors of the building, and is also selling the 53rd floor.
The 45th floor was the highest available subdivided floor in Central, a Centaline agent said, and this was the first time the owner agreed to break down floors.
Ma, who died in March 2024, was once the city’s biggest operator of minibus routes. He was an active commercial property investor, though his family has been divesting some assets amid the market slump. For example, the family put a 93-room hotel in the city’s Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood up for sale in August, according to CBRE.
Another Central property hit the market on Wednesday as veteran investor Lai Wing-to appointed CBRE to sell the commercial-residential building at 9-11 Staunton Street, after the previous sole agent Savills failed to find a buyer in 2024.
The owner slashed the price by 10 per cent to HK$180 million from last year’s HK$200 million, according to Reeves Yan, executive director and head of capital markets at CBRE Hong Kong.
“It shows the seller’s determination to offload,” he said.
The commercial real estate market improved starting from the fourth quarter last year as the number of transactions increased, Yan said. But this year would see “more financially stressed owners putting up assets for sale”, amid high interest rates and a poor rental outlook, he said.
“The supply is bigger than the demand as banks are cautious in lending and buyers are still wait-and-see for the upcoming interest-rate trend,” Yan added.
The chairman of one of Hong Kong’s largest restaurant chains is selling an industrial building in Sha Tin, as a highly competitive retail environment takes a toll on the hospitality sector.
The owner of the nine-storey building in Tai Wai, known as Big Orange for its distinctive facade, appointed property consultancy CBRE on Monday to hold a public tender for the asset in April.
The 236,148 sq ft building was acquired in 2013 by Hansun Investments for HK$498 million, according to government records. Yeung Wai, the chairman of Fulum Group, is listed as a director of Hansun.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Hong Kong restaurant chain boss to sell Sha Tin building as retail woes worsen
- The Center skyscraper sale was a Hong Kong blockbuster, now buyers struggle to cash out
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