Hong Kong property developers selling off non-residential buildings
Risks in domestic-housing market driving sales of car parks, offices, retail and industrial premises.
Hong Kong’s major property developers are speeding the sale of their non-core properties in a bid to lift revenue after investors’ demand shifted away from domestic-housing market due to increased risk, industry experts said.
Chinachem Group, Sino Land, Sun Hung Kai Properties and Wheelock & Co are the latest developers to sell or to tout their car parks, office, retail and industrial buildings in an effort to cash in on sharp price rises over the past couple of years.
“Developers are likely to take the advantage of high prices to dispose these assets as overall indicators show their valuation close to the peak,” Denis Ma, head of research at JLL, said.
Most of the assets already have tenants and are generating stable rental incomes. That is appealing to investors, he said.
Chinachem Group last week offered 27,457 square feet spaces at the 34-year-old Queen’s Centre in Wan Chai for sale.
The property, jointly owned with Dan Form Holdings, comprises five retail shops, a basement and 11 office floors. It has an estimated value of HK$400 million, or HK$15,000 per square foot.
The sale came four days after a consortium of developers led by Sino Land sold 147 car parks at the Hermitage residential project in West Kowloon for HK$350 million. Prices ranged from HK$2.3 million to HK$2.7 million.