Tycoons cash in on strata office market as deals hit US$3.8b in H1

The deal volume already beat the full-year record from 2017.

Bloomberg reports that Hong Kong’s ultra wealthy have found another way to cash in on the heated commercial property market as they turn to buying and selling office floors and units instead of whole buildings, pushing so-called strata-title office deals to smash 2017’s full year record of of US$2.9b to hit US$3.8b in the first half of 2018. 

Also read: Office vacancy rates tighten to 3.9% in July

This comes on the heels of blockbuster strata-title office deals such as when logistics heir Johnny Cheung made roughly $900m (US$115m) in a mere nine months after selling the 49th and 50th floors of The Center in August.

In fact, Hong Kong has beat the world’s commercial hubs to hold the crown in strata office sales after transaction volume since 2013 has hit US$38.9b, with NYC and Tokyo lagging with US$31.7b and US$20.7b respectively.

Also read: Mainland firms are not letting up on Hong Kong's office market in Q2

Strata-title deals allow for separate owners of building sections as opposed to the entire property being owned by a single entity, as the lump sum cost of whole-building purchases are amongst the world’s most expensive with Central being crowned as the priciest prime office market in the world for the third straight year.

Here’s more from Bloomberg:

Photo from WiNG - Own work, CC BY 3.0