Ex-banker sells US$41 million Deep Water Bay home, then splashes out on lease at The Peak

After selling a HK$319 million (US$41 million) luxury home in Hong Kong’s affluent Southern district, a former finance executive has rented a 4,715 sq ft house at The Peak, the city’s most exclusive neighbourhood, for HK$525,000 a month, official records show.\nLawrence Lam Yuk-kun was identified as the former owner of a house in Deep Water Bay and the new tenant of a property on Gough Hill Road at The Peak.\nLam is an independent non-executive director at Sany Heavy Industry, China’s largest construction machinery maker, which completed its initial public offering in Hong Kong in October.\nHouse 3 at 39 Deep Water Bay Road was sold to a company called True Gain Capital in a transaction completed in late October, according to Land Registry records. The property includes gardens, canopies, a yard and a foyer among other features.\nLam, and a party named Ng Wai-sum, bought the house in 2004 for HK$88.8 million. The Post reached out to Lam via Sany for comment.\nMarketing materials on agents’ websites showed the property had a saleable area of 3,889 sq ft, putting the deal at about HK$82,026 per square foot.\nIn November, Lam signed a lease for House 7 at 28 Gough Hill Road, running from January 2026 to December 2030, according to official records. Based on the agreed rent, he would be paying about HK$31.5 million over the term of the lease, according to calculations.\nLam, 66, took possession of the property on Monday, the documents show. The house has a gross floor area of 6,100 sq ft and a saleable area of 4,715 sq ft, with four bedrooms and four bathrooms, according to a property agency’s listing.\nLam worked at the Royal Bank of Scotland from 1995 to 2012, finishing as chairman of Greater China for global banking and markets, according to a Sany filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange in October.\nHe also served as a board director of the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation from 2015 to 2018 and as an independent director of Hunan Sanxiang Bank from January 2017 to February 2023.\nHe also served as a senior adviser for Greater China at National Australia Bank, according to an annual report by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.\nThe rental deal comes amid a gradual recovery in Hong Kong’s housing market as buyers return after years of falling asset prices.\nPrices of homes with saleable areas of at least 1,076 sq ft had declined by as much as 22.7 per cent since their peak in October 2021, according to government data.\nSo far this year, prices in this segment have risen 0.94 per cent, suggesting they may have found a floor and are starting to recover.\nupturn began in June, when the one-month Hong Kong interbank offered rate (Hibor), a key reference for mortgage loans, stayed below 1 per cent.\nBy contrast, residential rents had surged to record highs since September, according to government figures. Rents have risen by a cumulative 4 per cent so far this year, already surpassing the 3.5 per cent increase recorded for the whole of 2024.\nIn the high-end segment, rents were up more than 3 per cent year to date.\nHong Kong’s luxury residential rents were likely to climb another 3 to 5 per cent next year as more returning Western expatriates and home-grown professionals drove demand for prime homes, according to Savills.\nThe number of such leasing deals was expected to exceed last year’s 660, the consultancy said.\n