This archive report was first published on 24 October 2019.
Published on October 24, 2019, a day when Hong Kong's property market was already under scrutiny, a businessman paid a staggering HK$7.6 million ($970,000) for a parking space in the city's financial hub.
The purchase price is more than 30 times the average annual wage in Hong Kong and comparable to the cost of a one-bedroom apartment in London's upscale Chelsea area.
The parking space is located in The Centre, the city's fifth-tallest skyscraper, which made headlines in 2017 when it became the world's most expensive office building after being sold for over $5 billion.
Despite growing concerns about the impact of the pro-democracy protests on the city's real estate market, property firms' share prices have plummeted in recent months, forcing them to offer discounts on new projects and cut office rents.
With the economy expected to grow just 0-1.0 percent this year, the worst rate since 2009, the protests have become a major issue in Hong Kong's white-hot property market.
"A lot of those owners in The Center are in finance or in other high-growth businesses," said Stanley Poon, a managing director at Centaline Commercial. "To these tycoons, it’s not a significant purchase if you compare it to the value of the office floors they own."
"A lot of those owners in The Center are in finance or in other high-growth businesses," said Stanley Poon, a managing director at Centaline Commercial. "To these tycoons, it’s not a significant purchase if you compare it to the value of the office floors they own." Commercial and residential property prices have been fueled by an influx of money from wealthy mainland Chinese investors and developers, exacerbating the huge disparity between rich and poor in Hong Kong.
