Most expensive apartment in the world Article Published: 14:35 15/10/2009 Article Classification: The Maroccana Fund
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A Hong Kong property developer has sold an apartment for a world record price of HK$71,280 (US$9,200) per square foot, less than three months after the territory emerged from recession.

Henderson Land sold the property on Hong island for HK$439m (US$56.6m) to a buyer from the Chinese mainland. One possible reason for the record price is the apartments top floor location. The property is on the “68th floor” of a 40-storey building in the Mid-levels district – a marketing trick made possible by the developer’s decision to omit 47 floor numbers.

Traditionally, only floor numbers considered extremely unlucky in Cantonese culture, such as “4” and “14”, are skipped. The biggest factor behind the record breaking price is limited land supply. The government owns all the land in Hong Kong according to the FT, and releases plots for auction from a pre-approved “application list” only after a developer’s offer triggers a closely guarded reserve price. “If you want to maximise the value of land you don’t sell any – or at least very little,” says one local property executive.

The Hong Kong government strenuously denies it enforces a “high land-price policy” and the territory’s chief executive Donald Tsang has hinted he will take steps to prevent another property price bubble. “When necessary, we will fine-tune the land supply arrangements …with a view to quickening the pace of bringing readily available residential sites to the market” he said in his annual address to regulators.

In the second quarter of this year, Hong Kong’s GDP grew 3.3% and prices in the so-called luxury sector are reported to have risen 30% since January.

Full story on FT.COM