The division of the property arm of HSBC that handles the sale in Hong Kong of property in Canada and Australia has been closed.
Managing director John Arnold said the international division of Wayfoong Property was a victim of the downturn of international property sales in Hong Kong in the past year or so.
International property exhibitions from London, Sydney, Toronto and Vancouver were commonplace during the market boom and drew thousands of buyers. Since the economic downturn, buyers and projects have virtually disappeared.
'In boom times, we were selling 250 units a year, but later it fell to 50 units,' said Mr Arnold.
'Basically, people stopped immigrating in the numbers they used to, so property sales fell off,' he said.
Mr Arnold said Wayfoong had cancelled its agreement to sell Australian property at the conclusion of a one-year agreement signed in late 1997 with Mirvac, a high-end developer and hotel operator in Sydney.
