Leasing demand for super luxury homes in Hong Kong is robust, with numerous celebrities taking advantage of the strong market to rent out their high-end properties. The Rating and Valuation Department's private housing rental index recently hit a record high, and the leasing market for super luxury homes in the Southern District has also gained momentum. A villa on Shouson Hill Road in the Southern District, which was occupied by CKH HOLDINGS senior advisor Li Ka-shing for six years and is now used for rental income, was recently leased for approximately HK$500,000 per month, with a成交 per-square-foot rent of about HK$63.

According to property agency sources, this super luxury rental case involves house number 22B on Shouson Hill Road, with a gross floor area of about 7,902 square feet. It was previously listed with a target monthly rent of HK$600,000, but was leased for around HK$500,000 per month after negotiation.

The land was purchased for HK$83 million and redeveloped into three grand residences at numbers 22A, 22B, and 22C on Shouson Hill Road. The owner is Sun Kung Investment Limited, which is held by Li Ka-shing. The combined saleable area of the three houses totals 20,809 square feet.

It is understood that the other two villas are currently available for rent, with a target monthly rent of about HK$600,000 each.

The Shouson Hill Road area has long been a residential enclave for Hong Kong's top tycoons. Li Ka-shing purchased the land plot from the Leung Chi Hung family in 2002 for HK$83 million and oversaw its redevelopment into the current three villas.

In 2007, due to the reconstruction of his mansion at 79 Deep Water Bay Road, Li Ka-shing moved into the aforementioned villas with his eldest son, Victor Li. They moved back to the Deep Water Bay Road mansion in October 2013.

Previous Tenants Ended with Rent Defaults

It is reported that these three villas were previously leased to mainland Chinese businessman and film investor for "Ip Man 3" Shi Jianxiang, Shenzhen private equity fund manager Yuan Yiqiang, and Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu's boyfriend, Ji Xiaobo, who is known as the "Saipan gambling king." All three tenancies reportedly ended with the tenants defaulting on rent.

Shi Jianxiang began renting the three villas in 2015 for a monthly rent of HK$1.95 million. However, from September 2017, he failed to pay rent on time, leading to a lawsuit seeking one month's rent and two months' rent for a rent-free period, totaling HK$5.8 million.

The three villas were then leased to Yuan Yiqiang for HK$2 million per month starting March 2, 2018. By May of the same year, rent defaults were reported, with the owner filing a claim in the High Court to recover millions in unpaid rent.

As for Ji Xiaobo and his mother Cui Lijie, they guaranteed a company that leased Li Ka-shing's former Shouson Hill residence in 2018 for a monthly rent of HK$1.8 million. However, the company stopped paying rent from May 2020, leading to legal action to recover over HK$5.41 million in unpaid rent and payments for a two-month rent-free period.