Hong Kong developers test demand for ultra-luxury homes with new launch on The Peak

Hong Kong property developers are bringing new trophy homes to market, as Wharf Holdings kicked off a tender on Friday for three mansions at its ultra-luxury Plantation Road project on The Peak.\nThe tender marked one of the most closely watched super-luxury home offerings in 2025, following a recent string of high-value transactions that pointed to renewed confidence in the market among affluent buyers.\nThe three mansions, with saleable areas ranging from 5,629 to 6,122 square feet, include the largest home in the project’s first phase – comprising a total of eight units – that comes with a 4,430 square foot private garden and courtyard.\nWharf’s latest Plantation Road offering reflects how developers are encouraged by improved market sentiment, following a number of big-ticket transactions this year.\nWhile overall housing activity continues to be dominated by mass-market flats, Hong Kong has seen a rebound in deals involving luxury homes priced above HK$50 million (US$6.4 million) in recent months.\nIn October alone, developers recorded 66 first-hand luxury transactions above that threshold, roughly double the number in September and the highest monthly tally in a year, according to Midland Realty. There were 322 such deals recorded in the first 10 months of the year.\n\nOn Christmas Eve, a unit at Hanison Construction Holdings’ Park College development – comprising 11 units, including three large duplexes – in Kowloon City was sold for HK$150 million, setting a new price benchmark in the neighbourhood.\nAnother major transaction was recorded on the Southside, where investment holding company National Electronics Holdings sold one of its seven detached houses at Tai Tam Road for HK$343 million, although that was at a discount to peak prices in 2021.\nLuxury second-hand homes – typically priced 20 to 40 per cent below the high levels in 2021 and 2022 – have mostly been absorbed, according to Alan Li, an agent at luxury real estate-focused Habitat Property.\n“[This] is turning buyers’ attention to primary luxury housing,” Li said.\nHe pointed out that a shift from renting to ownership was noticeable from the October rental index for luxury units under classes D and E – those with saleable areas of at least 1,076 square feet – which rose 3.69 per cent, its highest level since November 2019, according to data from the Rating and Valuation Department.\nWhile the city’s major developers were unlikely to reduce prices significantly, a few like New World Development were expected to pursue quick sales opportunities in the luxury home market.\nMainland Chinese buyers continued to dominate new luxury home sales this year, while a mix of local owners, mainland buyers and expatriates were involved in the resale market, particularly in the core areas that include The Peak, Southside and Mid-Levels.\nTransactions involving properties with saleable areas of at least 1,076 square feet saw up to a 22.7 per cent decline this year, from their peak in October 2021, according to government data. The Price Index rose by 2.5 per cent in the first 10 months of the year.\nHong Kong’s luxury residential rentals were expected to climb another 3 to 5 per cent next year, as a growing number of returning Western expatriates and local professionals drive demand for high-end accommodation, according to Savills.\n“I expect this market to be active next year,” Habitat Property’s Li said.\n