The fall of a real estate tycoon: The wealth map behind the sale of Agile Properties' Deep Water Bay mansion
The transfer of top luxury properties is never just a simple real estate transaction but also a quiet change in the era of wealth.
On June 23rd, a significant transaction took place in the top luxury property market in the Southern District of Hong Kong. The four - storey seaside mansion at No. 39, South Bay Road, Repulse Bay, owned by the Chen family of Agile Group, was sold for HK$1.238 billion. The total area is nearly 13,000 square feet, making it the top - priced single residential property transaction in Hong Kong so far this year, with a price per square foot reaching HK$95,600.
This top luxury property, which combines a private garden, a rooftop swimming pool, and six parking spaces, is a private landmark personally rebuilt by the Chen Zhuolin family after more than a decade of strategic planning. However, the current full - scale disposal of the property is not an isolated asset transfer.
Looking back over the past decade, mainland private real estate tycoons, represented by the Chen family of Agile Group, Xu Jiayin of Evergrande, Xu Rongmao of Shimao, and Chen Hongtian of Xiangqi, flocked to Hong Kong to buy properties. Luxury properties with sea views in The Peak, Repulse Bay, Deep Water Bay, and Shek O were once monopolized by real estate bosses. However, since the liquidity crisis in the industry broke out in 2022, selling off properties and leaving the market has become the norm.
If we carefully examine the new buyers of top luxury properties in Hong Kong in recent years, it is not difficult to find that a phenomenon with a great contrast to the era has quietly emerged. While the former real estate tycoons are leaving the market, new elites in the fields of the Internet, hard technology, and biomedicine have become the most active buyers at present.
Transfer of Luxury Properties
The transaction of No. 39, South Bay Road is a landmark move in the Chen family's contraction of their Hong Kong assets.
According to the records of the Land Registry, in 2011, the Chen Zhuolin family acquired the seaside land in Repulse Bay for nearly HK$500 million. At that time, mainland real estate companies were at the peak of their expansion. Hong Kong was not only a window for international asset allocation but also a status symbol for the top - tier circle.
South Bay Road in Repulse Bay, Hong Kong, is a well - recognized traditional area for the wealthy. Backed by the dense and pristine forests of Mount Nicholson and facing the unobstructed blue - bay sea view of Repulse Bay, only top - tier figures from all walks of life can own properties here.
As early as November 2011, the Chen family purchased the land for nearly HK$500 million and built four villas in 2016. However, due to the scattered layout of the independent villas, the relatively small total floor area, and the poor self - occupancy experience; and from the perspective of asset value, there were very few buyers for single - family villas in Repulse Bay, and they could only be sold individually, resulting in a long transaction cycle, large bargaining space, and high difficulty in overall cash - out. Therefore, an application for reconstruction was submitted three years later.
In 2019, the land was approved to be rebuilt into a four - storey luxury property, including an underground club garden, three - storey sea - view residences, and a rooftop private swimming pool. The entire project took nearly five years, and it was officially completed and occupied in 2024.
The period from the Chen family's early land acquisition to the initial construction was also the golden period for mainland private real estate companies to purchase properties in Hong Kong.
According to the data released by the Hong Kong Lands Department, in 2015, the total amount of land purchased by mainland real estate companies in Hong Kong exceeded that of local Hong Kong capital for the first time. The figures of real estate bosses could be seen everywhere in the luxury property areas of The Peak and the Southern District.
Taking well - known figures in the real estate industry as examples, in 2010, Xu Jiayin, the boss of Evergrande, took advantage of the abundant funds after the company's listing in Hong Kong and spent HK$2.5 billion to purchase three single - family mansions on Barker Road in The Peak, with private elevators and large - scale gardens; in 2015, Chen Hongtian, the boss of Xiangqi, spent HK$387 million to acquire a top - tier luxury property on the top floor of The Avenir in Mid - levels East. Later, he spent another HK$2.1 billion to purchase a large villa on Stubbs Road in The Peak, planning to rebuild his family mansion.
At that time, the industry had high profits and loose financing channels. Hong Kong's top luxury properties had triple values of residence, tax avoidance, and cross - border asset hedging, and naturally became a standard for real estate tycoons.
However, as time has passed, what was once a status symbol has now become a cushion for debt repayment. Agile's departure this time is just a microcosm of the selling wave of mainland real estate tycoons sweeping across Hong Kong.
From 2022 to 2026, the actual controllers and executives of dozens of troubled private real estate companies, such as Evergrande, Shimao, Xiangqi, Aoyuan, CIFI, and KWG, concentrated on disposing of their luxury properties in Hong Kong.
On the Evergrande side, after 2023, the single - family mansion on Block B of Barker Road under Xu Jiayin's name was taken over by the bank and sold at a discounted price of HK$470 million, with an asset impairment of nearly 50%; Xia Haijun, the former president, purchased a penthouse duplex in The Mayfair in North Point for HK$156 million in 2019 and sold it for HK$82 million in 2024, directly losing HK$74 million, with a depreciation of nearly half.
Chen Hongtian of Xiangqi also set the record for the largest loss in the history of Hong Kong's luxury property market. The villa on Stubbs Road in The Peak, which was purchased for HK$2.1 billion, was finally sold for HK$790 million in 2025 after six rounds of price cuts and tenders in nearly two years, with a book loss of HK$1.31 billion, a decline of 62.4%.
In fact, the properties sold by the Chen family of Agile in Hong Kong are far more than this one.
At the end of 2025, Chen Sile, the son of Chen Zhuolin, sold the villa at No. 39, Deep Water Bay Road for HK$342 million, with a book loss of HK$10 million after holding it for 10 years. If the holding costs such as rates, land rent, maintenance, management fees, stamp duty, and mortgage interest over the 10 - year period are added, the actual loss scale is even higher.
The Old Stage, New Forces
The popularity of Hong Kong's top luxury property market has never faded. It's just that there have been batch after batch of wealth - creating protagonists on the stage. Through their comings and goings, the rise and fall of wealth in different eras are fully demonstrated.
What best reflects the changes of the times is the profile of the buyers in this round of selling wave in Hong Kong.
According to the statistics of the four major banks compiled by View New Media, from 2015 to 2017, 70% of the buyers of luxury properties worth over HK$100 million in Hong Kong were the actual controllers of mainland real estate companies; from 2024 to 2026, the proportion of real estate practitioners was less than 10%. Four types of new buyers, including those from the technology and Internet, hard manufacturing, medical, and cross - border capital sectors, have completely taken over the top luxury property market and become the core force.
In the technology and Internet field, the most typical case is that in 2025, Huang Zheng, the founder of Pinduoduo, spent HK$480 million to purchase a double - numbered sea - view house at No. 33, Heung To Road, Repulse Bay, with a practical area of nearly 5,000 square feet, facing the entire Repulse Bay beach; in April 2025, Cai Wensheng, the founder of Meitu, spent HK$466 million through a subject under his spouse's name to acquire a single - family villa at No. 8, Paterson Road, Jardine's Lookout, covering an area of 10,000 square feet with a private garden.
In the hard - technology enterprise sector, in 2025, Gu Hongdi, the co - president of XPeng Motors, spent HK$352 million to purchase a single - family villa at Twelve Peaks in The Peak; in 2026, the actual controller of a semiconductor listed company on the A - share market spent HK$609 million to buy a penthouse duplex at Mount Nicholson in The Peak, with a private rooftop of more than 3,000 square feet and two parking spaces; in the same year, the founder of a leading enterprise in the new energy sector spent HK$256 million to purchase a seaside villa at One Stanley in Stanley.
In this cycle, what has changed is the main force of wealth in the era, while what remains unchanged is the pursuit of core high - quality assets.
According to the data of Centaline Property, in 2025, there were 262 transactions of residential properties worth over HK$100 million in Hong Kong, with a total transaction amount of HK$53.1 billion, setting a new historical high; from January to April 2026, there were 93 cumulative transactions of luxury properties worth over HK$100 million, involving HK$19.048 billion, a significant increase of 151% compared with the same period in 2025. It is expected that the annual transaction volume of luxury properties worth over HK$100 million is expected to exceed 200.
From the perspective of the distribution of transaction locations, in the first quarter of 2026, the transactions of first - hand super - luxury properties worth over HK$100 million were still highly concentrated in traditional luxury property areas.
Western Mid - levels, a traditional luxury property area, led with 22 transactions, accounting for more than 45% of the total in Hong Kong. The transaction amount was about HK$3.854 billion, also ranking first among all districts, accounting for more than 40% of the total transaction amount; followed by two well - established luxury property areas, Shouson Hill and Repulse Bay, with a total of 6 transactions and a total transaction amount of about HK$1.557 billion; Kowloon Mid - levels ranked third with 4 transactions and a transaction amount of HK$792 million.
In fact, the continuous and hot rise in the Hong Kong market in the past two years is the result of the resonance of multiple factors, including policies, funds, supply and demand, and population iteration.
Among them, the "Special Report on Asset Allocation of Top Luxury Properties in Hong Kong" released by DTZ in May 2026 stated that the rental demand in the traditional luxury property areas on Hong Kong Island is supported by the high - end talent pass and the executives of cross - border enterprises. The rent has remained firm, with a gross return stably above 3.5%, and some first - line sea - view villas can reach 4%. In a low - interest environment, the cash flow from asset holding is positive, which encourages high - net - worth individuals to enter the market for asset allocation.
Guo Ziwei, the chief manager of the sales department of Cheung Kong Holdings, recently said externally that the land supply of super - luxury properties in the core areas of Hong Kong has been scarce for a long time, with irreplaceable and scarce value. Coupled with the continuous release of the demand for global investors to diversify their asset allocation, the super - luxury property market has sufficient long - term growth potential and naturally becomes the core target for large - scale capital allocation.
This article is from the WeChat official account "View". The author is View New Media. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.