The executive director and CEO of Hang Seng Bank has bought a home in Hong Kong’s Tai Hang district, joining a growing coterie of financiers on the hunt for high-value residential property that has helped to drive the city’s lived-in home prices to a five-month high.
A lived-in flat measuring 1,193 sq ft (110.8 square metres) at Flora Garden was handed over on Wednesday to Diana Ferreira Cesar, according to the Land Registry.
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The unit was transacted for HK$26.6 million (US$3.4 million), or HK$22,322 per square foot, slightly higher than previous transactions in the apartment complex, according to an agent. Another unit in the same block measuring 1,011 sq ft was sold on Wednesday for HK$20 million, or HK$19,703 per square foot, according to Centaline’s website.
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Flora Garden, which was completed in 1987 by the Nan Fung Group, comprises three H-shaped buildings with a total of 240 units.
Hang Seng Bank’s executive director and CEO Diana Cesar during the bank’s press conference on February 21, 2024. Photo: Jonathan Wong alt=Hang Seng Bank’s executive director and CEO Diana Cesar during the bank’s press conference on February 21, 2024. Photo: Jonathan Wong>
Cesar, who has been Hang Seng Bank’s CEO since 2021, joins a growing list of wealthy investors and financial executives who are betting on a recovery in the city’s housing market.
The Post has reached out to Cesar for comment.
Last month, Francis Yuen Tin-fan, the former CEO of the company that operates Hong Kong’s stock exchange, spent HK$46.5 million with his wife, Rose Lee Wai-mun, on a luxury flat in Kai Tak. They bought a 1,298 sq ft four-bedroom unit at The Knightsbridge for HK$35,794 per square foot, according to Land Registry records.
A view of The Knightsbridge (right) in Kai Tak, jointly developed by Henderson Land Development, China Overseas Land, Chinachem Group, Empire Group, New World Development and Wheelock Properties. Photo: Edmond So alt=A view of The Knightsbridge (right) in Kai Tak, jointly developed by Henderson Land Development, China Overseas Land, Chinachem Group, Empire Group, New World Development and Wheelock Properties. Photo: Edmond So>
Yuen and Rose would be neighbours with Robin Zeng Yuqun, the billionaire founder of the world’s largest maker of electric-car batteries, Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), who paid HK$33.5 million, or HK$33,383 per square foot, for a unit in the same development last year.
