A SHENZHEN real estate tycoon bought a property in Hong Kong for about HK$2.1 billion (US$270 million), setting a new record for one of the priciest cities in the world.

    Chen Hongtian, chairman of Shenzhen-based firm Cheung Kei Group, bought the 9,212 square feet (1,023 square meters) luxury house at 15 Gough Hill Road on The Peak, one of the most exclusive areas in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reported.

    Chen, who has a fortune of 16 billion yuan (US$2.39 billion) according to the Hurun Report, said he bought the house for his own use — and not to turn a quick profit.

    “It’s not for speculation,” he said. “You can hardly make any profit from properties like this.

    “I initially planned to move into the home I bought for HK$380 million last year. But I felt it was a little bit too tiny [for my family] and [I would need] to live in a bigger one later on. That’s why I bought this house.”

    The “tiny” property Chen was referring to covers 5,154 square feet — meaning he paid roughly HK$75,000 per square foot.

    “We’re used to living in big houses. We’ve got houses of this grade in numerous cities on the mainland and we will live in this [Peak] house whenever we are in Hong Kong,” Chen said.

    Chen said he was no stranger to Hong Kong’s high-end property market.

    “I bought my first luxury home on Kennedy Road in Mid-Levels for HK$4 million in late 1990 or early 1991, when I first came to live in Hong Kong. Over the years, I always lived in Mid-Levels. After the unit on Kennedy Road, I set my sights on another one on May Road that I bought later on.”

    Sources close to Chen said he had poured huge amounts of money into high-end property across the world, including Australia, over the past few years.

    In 1984, Chen started a career importing and exporting clothing, and he soon expanded by acquiring several garment factories across Guangdong. Six years later, he set up Cheung Kei Group and turned to real estate development in Shenzhen and neighboring areas.

    He is the chairman of the Shenzhen Harmony Club, an association for businessmen that counts 100 prominent entrepreneurs from Shenzhen and Hong Kong as its members. These include Tencent chairman and chief executive officer Pony Ma Huateng; the chairman of battery and automaker BYD, Wang Chuanfu; and the executive director of New World China Land, Peter Cheng Karshing.

    The club was set up in September 2012 to focus on government-to-business communication and to promote Hong Kong-Shenzhen cooperation.

    (SD-Agencies)