Henderson’s Hong Kong property dream falls through

Fresh from from Hong Kong — a headache for property giant, Henderson Land.

Late on Tuesday, the company controlled by billionaire Lee Shau-kee let slip that it would take an HK$734m charge (USD$94m) on 20 cancelled Hong Kong apartment sales. Henderson had already included sales of 24 flats in its 2010 earnings, but only four of them have actually closed.

And these aren’t just any old Hong Kong flats.

They’re the super-luxurious ones over at Henderson’s 39 Conduit Road development, including one supposed record-breaker that the company said back in October it had sold for USD$56m — or $11,350 per usable square foot. That generated plenty of media attention, including some on FT Alphaville, along with accusations of a China property bubble.

So, is this a one-off or did we just hear a popping sound?

The full Henderson Hong Kong Stock Exchange announcement laid out below:

ANNOUNCEMENT

The sales of 4 units at 39 Conduit Road were recently completed, and the Group has received in full the amounts of purchase price receivable, together with interest for delayed completion.

In relation to 20 other units in the Development in respect of which sale and purchase agreements were entered into, the Group has received written requests from the purchasers concerned for cancellation of the sale and purchase agreements. In accordance with the terms of the agreements for sale and purchase under the Consent Scheme, the Group forfeited the deposit of 5% of the purchase prices, entered into cancellation agreements to cancel the sale and purchase, and refunded other payments received in respect of the purchase prices.

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2010/06/16/262206/hendersons-hong-kong-property-dream-falls-through/

No reason to worry in Hong Kong, only some missing cash to pay for the "units". Hum...liquidity problems ? Just ask the FED, ECB, BoJ, BOE...

 

of course the luxury high end get hit first, just like any real estate down turn. shanghai real estate is negative now, which is directly linked to hong kong's market.

shrug no magic here, just normal market....

 

The biggest volatility is in the high end real estate..

 

this reminds me of mikhail prokhorov losing his 36 million euro deposit on the riviera home he bailed on.