How Jardine Matheson’s street-shop sale reflects Hong Kong retail property’s struggles
Amid Hong Kong’s commercial property downturn, British conglomerate Jardine Matheson has sold a street shop in Causeway Bay for HK$80 million (US$10.2 million) after holding it for more than 50 years, accepting a price HK$10 million below its earlier valuation. The property, a ground-floor shop in H&S Building at 36 Leighton Road, with a gross floor area of about 11,727 square feet, was acquired…
Jardine Matheson's sale of a Causeway Bay street shop for HK$80 million reflects the struggles of Hong Kong's commercial property market, which has been in a downturn. The ground-floor shop in the H&S Building at 36 Leighton Road, which was held by Jardine Matheson for over 50 years, was sold to Uni Investment Development for HK$10 million less than its earlier valuation of HK$90 million.
Despite the lower price, the sale was considered a bargain by Edwin Lee, founder and CEO of Bridgeway Prime Shop Fund Management, due to the shop's large floor area and its former use as a car showroom. The property's sale is part of a broader trend of street-shop disposals, with 222 deals valued at HK$4.36 billion in the third quarter, and a projected increase to 240 deals worth HK$5.5 billion in the fourth quarter.
However, with some distressed properties still on the market, Poon expects street-shop prices to decline by no more than 5% in the fourth quarter. The sale of the H&S Building shop also highlights the role of interest rate increases in influencing commercial property prices in Hong Kong.
Brief written by urgent.news from SCMP Business's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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