Ant Group executive pays US$10 million for Hong Kong villa, 35% lower than 2022 peak
Hong Kong's luxury property market continues to witness heavily discounted sales, with buyers taking advantage of depressed prices.
Advertisement
A four-bedroom, 3,314 sq ft detached house in Villa Rosa, Tai Tam, was acquired for HK$78 million (US$10 million) last week by a senior executive of Ant Group, operator of China's biggest mobile payment system Alipay, according to Land Registry records.
The buyers were executive vice-president Shao Xiaofeng and his wife Li Jian, according to a property agent. Hangzhou-based Ant Group is a fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, which owns the Post. Ant Group did not reply to a request for comment.
Villa Rosa, located at 88 Red Hill Road in the Southern district, has 16 detached houses. The latest transaction price was 35 per cent less than another unit sold in the same development three years ago for HK$120 million.
Hangzhou-based Ant Group is China's biggest operator of mobile payment systems. Photo: Shutterstock
Celebrities,
tycoons and other wealthy investors have been snapping up luxury homes in Hong Kong on the cheap, as the prices of these exclusive abodes have plunged by as much as 45 per cent from their peaks amid high interest rates.
Advertisement
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
HKFP
an hour ago
- HKFP
Hong Kong catering group King Parrot informs staff of closure, unions say
Hong Kong catering group King Parrot has informed staff members about its closure but has yet to sort out severance pay, according to trade unions. The 33-year-old King Parrot Group told its staff on Friday about the closure and said it would settle outstanding salaries for May and June, the Hotels, Food and Beverage Employees' Association (HFBEA) said in a statement on Saturday. The statement was also shared by the Eating Establishment Employees General Union (EEEGU). The HFBEA said in the statement that the group had not provided employees with other entitlements, including severance pay and one month's payment in lieu of notice. The two trade unions said they 'are very concerned about the welfare of King Parrot Group employees.' They called on the company's staff to keep a record of all employment-related documents and to reach out to the unions for assistance. The EEEGU told local media that it had been contacted by over 100 staff members and that the catering company owed its employees over HK$1 million. Photos shared by the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, the parent organisation of the HFBEA and the EEEGU, showed restaurants belonging to the catering group were boarded up or closed with a notice claiming the premises were 'under renovation.' King Parrot Group was established in 1992. Its website has gone defunct, but a March archive of the site showed it had 14 restaurants. King Parrot Group's social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, were last updated on May 6 to promote Mother's Day discounts at five of its restaurants. The group's most well-known restaurant, King Ludwig Beerhall at Stanley's historic Murray House, put up its shutters in April last year. . The company failed to pay over 100 workers, with the Labour Department estimating that the total amount of claims reached around HK$15 million.
HKFP
19 hours ago
- HKFP
China vice premier to meet US delegation for trade talks, Beijing says
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will meet a US delegation for talks next week in Britain, Beijing announced Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He will visit the United Kingdom from June 8 to 13 at the invitation of the British government, China's foreign ministry said in a statement. It said He and American representatives will co-chair the first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism. US President Donald Trump had already announced on Friday that a new round of trade talks with China would kick off in London beginning Monday, after he spoke by phone with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a bid to end a bitter battle over tariffs. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would meet the Chinese team. The discussions will mark the second round of such negotiations between the world's two biggest economies since Trump launched his trade war shortly after returning to the White House in January. A first meeting, held in mid-May in Geneva, brought a pause to the US-China trade dispute. But Trump then accused Beijing of not respecting the terms of the de-escalation agreement. On Thursday the Republican president finally discussed the issues with Xi for the first time since the trade tensions soared, assuring that the conversation had been positive. Xi for his part told Trump the two should 'correct the course' of bilateral relations, according to remarks quoted by official Chinese media.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- South China Morning Post
Angered by Trump's ‘unjustified' tariffs, Australia chases new trade deals
Australia will push to expand free-trade agreements with other countries to reduce its reliance on the United States, Trade Minister Don Farrell said on Sunday, slamming President Donald Trump's 'unjustified' tariffs. Advertisement Australia is a close US ally but has been slugged with a blanket 10 per cent tariff on goods exported to the US, rising to 50 per cent on steel and aluminium, as part of Trump 's sweeping global duties. 'I'm hopeful that those countries around the world who do believe in free and fair trade can reach an agreement to extend free-trade agreements across the globe, so that irrespective of what the Americans might choose to do, we have a greater diversity of trading partners,' Farrell told Sky News. He was speaking after talks last week in Paris with the World Trade Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and other countries which he said had focused on preventing 'protectionism' and encouraging free and fair trade. 03:01 US appeals court allows Donald Trump's tariffs to stay in effect US appeals court allows Donald Trump's tariffs to stay in effect Trade between Australia and the US is worth an estimated A$100 billion (US$65 billion) a year, with Australia buying more from the US than it is selling, Farrell said.
