Hong Kong logistics group’s CEO buys US$17 million home as wealthy accumulate assets

A top executive of a multinational logistics group has bought a luxury flat in Hong Kong’s Mid-Levels West for HK$132 million (US$16.9 million), adding to a growing list of wealthy buyers acquiring high-end homes as prices soften.\nCherry Hill Investment, an entity linked to Arnold Lee, acquired the 2,772 sq ft, four-bedroom apartment at The Legacy, jointly developed by Henderson Land Development and New World Development, according to Land Registry records. The transaction was completed on November 25 and registered on December 16.\nLee is the CEO of Hecny Group, a global freight and logistics company founded in 1951 by his father, Charles C.K. Lee. The elder Lee was among the first in Hong Kong to secure a licence from the International Air Transport Association, as the city’s export sector expanded rapidly in the post-war decades.\nHecny Group has grown alongside Hong Kong’s rise as a logistics and trading hub. The company, which once contracted cargo aircraft from Pan American World Airways in the 1960s and 1970s, now operates in more than 70 locations worldwide, employing over 3,000 people.\n\n\nThe Lee family has also been active in property investments since the 1970s. In September, it bought a 2,256 sq ft shop on the ground floor of LL Tower on Shelley Street in Central for about HK$41.3 million. In 2022, the family bought four other shops, taking advantage of the falling prices.\nThe latest property deal comes as Hong Kong’s luxury housing market draws renewed interest from end users and investors. Government data showed that homes with a saleable area of at least 1,076 sq ft fell as much as 22.7 per cent from their peak in October 2021 to October this year.\nRecent months have seen several high-profile transactions. A four-bedroom unit at Mont Verra in Kowloon Tong was bought for HK$192 million on December 10. The buyer has not been identified.\nIn November, a duplex penthouse in the same development was sold to a family from eastern China’s Anhui province for HK$250 million.\nSeparately, Matrix Properties, linked to Vincent Gao Leyi of hedge fund CoreView Capital, paid HK$579 million for a six-bedroom home at No 15 Shouson Hill in the Southern district.\nThe Legacy itself has attracted multiple affluent buyers.\nLast month, Charles Tong Chi-kar, vice-chairman and executive director of Tomson Group, bought a four-bedroom unit there for HK$112 million.\nChinese media recently reported the sale of a duplex at The Legacy for more than HK$880 million, a record for the project.\nMidland Realty predicted luxury home prices could rise 10 per cent to 15 per cent in 2026, citing expectations of interest rate cuts, a revival in initial public offerings and tight supply.\n