A luxury duplex penthouse at Branksome Crest in Mid-Levels

 
Alibaba boss opens flat door to $300m record

Alibaba.com (1688) founder and chairman Jack Ma Yun, left, has bought a luxury duplex penthouse, with the price tag of HK$42,325 per square foot setting another record in Asia's luxury property market.
   
The leader of the online business- to-business marketplace operator splashed out about HK$300 million for the 7,088 sq ft duplex on the 52nd floor of Branksome Crest in Mid-Levels.     The unit has five bedrooms, and includes a garden on the roof occupying 2,771 sq ft. Ma bought the property directly from developer Kerry Properties (0683), sources said. Ma was not available for comment when approached by The Standard.     The deal broke the record for not just Hong Kong, but the whole of Asia. The previous record was held by the purchase of House 1 at 8 Severn Road on The Peak, when a businessman paid about HK$41,000 psf for a 5,100 sq ft semi-detached townhouse. Top rents at Branksome Crest, completed in 2004, are stable at HK$70 psf, and are on par with houses on The Peak.     Deborah Ho Chiu-hung, daughter of Macau gaming magnate Stanley Ho Hung-sun, lives on the 51st floor.     Ma's personal worth is estimated at HK$12.7 billion following the listing debut of Alibaba, whose stock tripled in value in the first day of trading. The profit and earnings ratio also multiplied 300 times. - 2007  November 24   THE STANDARD
If you fancy paying HK$10,000 a year to rent space for your bathtub, or HK$5,760 a month for a spot to spread your favourite eight by 12 foot rug, Kerry Properties has just the place for you.

With rents for luxury flats approaching record 1997 levels, the developer hopes to rent out a 7,088-square-foot penthouse at Branksome Crest in Mid-Levels for what it says would be a record HK$60 per square foot, or about HK$400,000 a month.

``There is sustained demand for those unique penthouses from bankers and company chairmen,'' Ricacorp Properties senior district manager Douglas Yeung said.

But he said the penthouse will probably take a while to let, given its cost, compared with the typical 2,400-sq-ft apartments at Branksome Crest, on offer for about HK$100,000, or HK$45 psf a month.

Hong Kong developers haven't seen the likes of this rental market since 1997. That year, luxury apartments at Swire Properties' The Albany project in Mid-Levels rented for HK$40 to HK$50 psf - up to HK$300,000 per month, Yeung said. On Island South, rentals for Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels' The Repulse Bay project surpassed HK$55 psf.
All told, Chu said, Kerry could reap an annual lease income of about HK$90 million from the 64 units at the newly completed Branksome Crest.

Branksome Crest        
Address:          3A Tregunter Path Mid Levels    

The project consists of apartments measuring from 2,355 to 2,720 sq ft, plus four larger units with sizes ranging from 4,620 to 7,088 sq ft.