Hong Kong's Peak rises above London, New York

Hong Kong's luxury real estate market is hotter than even New York's and London's.

Thursday, September 15th 2005, 8:39AM

by The Landlord

Prices on the Peak, the top of Hong Kong island, are rising as China's economic growth spawns a generation of buyers looking to rub shoulders with Western executives and the city's richest families. Prices at the Peak start at HK$15 million ($2.7 million) for a two-bedroom, 1200sq ft (111sq m) apartment and exceed HK$200 million for houses.

"The Peak used to be occupied by the old money of Hong Kong," said Eddie Tam, 43, a watch-seller's son who spent more than US$1 million to renovate his 3581sq ft home and fill it with chandeliers, antiques and works by artists such as Zhang Daqian, painter of the world's most expensive Chinese picture. "I definitely belong to a new generation of owners."

Realtor Knight Frank said film star Stephen Chow drew bids of up to HK$120 million, or a record HK$32,400 ($5900) a sq ft, last month for his four-storey Peak home.

London's priciest homes sell for the equivalent of as much as 2000 ($5200) a sq ft, the company said. A New York apartment facing the Hudson River goes for upwards of US$2500 ($3600) a sq ft, says Nicholas Brooke of Professional Property Services, a Hong Kong-based real estate adviser.

Demand this year surged for landed property on the Peak worth HK$40 million or more, said Raymond Fung, a director at Knight Frank Hong Kong.

"Single-house property is so popular because people with money want to live by themselves, preferably with no neighbours, and certainly not with the average folks."

Hong Kong's property prices have risen for more than a year as the economy expanded and the jobless rate fell to a four-year low, rebounding from a slump in 2003 caused by recession and the Sars virus epidemic in the city.

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