Inside the most expensive part of the world's most expensive city, the Hong Kong billionaire enclave where Alibaba founder Jack Ma reportedly bought a $191 million mansion

Harrison Jacobs

Apr 6, 2018, 19:52 IST

Inside the most expensive part of the world's most expensive city, the Hong Kong billionaire enclave where Alibaba founder Jack Ma reportedly bought a $191 million mansion

HongKongBillionairesNeighborhood JackMa (26 of 32)

You need an incredible amount of money to live in the Peak.

Hong Kong's most expensive neighborhood is the Peak.
The Peak is a gorgeous, secluded neighborhood that overlooks Hong Kong and is home to bankers, expatriates, Hong Kong business magnates and celebrities, and Chinese millionaires and billionaires.
Alibaba founder and Chinese billionaire Jack Ma is reported to have purchased a $191 million mansion in the neighborhood, but it has never been confirmed.

Every city has that neighborhood, an address that simply signifies wealth. New York City has Fifth Avenue, London has Kensington, and Miami has South Beach.

Hong Kong has the Peak - short for Victoria Peak - a neighborhood that has been synonymous with wealth, luxury, and exclusivity since the colonial era.

As the least affordable city in the world for eight years running, Hong Kong takes the cake when it comes to luxury real estate.

At various times over the last decade, Pollock's Path, Barker Road, and Severn Road - all streets on The Peak - have each claimed the title of the world's most expensive street.

The neighborhood is home to a mix of bankers, expatriates, Hong Kong business magnates and celebrities, and, more recently, Chinese millionaires and billionaires looking for a place to invest or vacation away from the mainland's polluted cities.

It's the kind of neighborhood where records are repeatedly broken for the most expensive real estate in the world. In 2015, it was rumored that Alibaba founder and Chinese billionaire Jack Ma purchased a $191 million mansion in the neighborhood, but the purchase has never been confirmed.

Last month, an unidentified buyer broke the record for the most expensive real estate in Asia, purchasing a 9,217-square-foot villa on the Peak for $178.4 million, making it $19,400 per square foot.

I recently visited the ritzy neighborhood to see why it continues to be one of the most coveted addresses in the world. It did not disappoint.

The Peak is the neighborhood surrounding Victoria Peak, the highest point on Hong Kong Island at 1,811 feet tall. I took a taxi to get to Victoria Peak Lookout, a major tourist destination in Hong Kong.

Most tourists ride the Peak Tram up. The Peak Galleria, a mega-mall (read: tourist trap), is built at the top of the tramway, complete with souvenirs and a Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.

The Peak has been the city's most exclusive neighborhood for more than 100 years. Until 1947, only the British and Europeans were allowed to live there, a policy that infuriated Hong Kong's Chinese citizens. Prior to the building of the tramway, residents were carried up on sedan chairs carried by migrant laborers.

The wealthy first moved to the area because it was thought to be cooler than the sweaty streets in the city center. In a place as packed as Hong Kong, it feels a world away. The area is secluded by winding streets and thick tropical vegetation. The view is unbeatable.

Victoria Peak is a popular day trip for Hong Kongers. On the day I visited, it was packed with families enjoying picnics, joggers running a 5K for charity, and hikers snaking through the park’s many paths. It's kind of like if you mashed Central Park and Beverly Hills together.

There are a few mansions visible from the Circle Walk, the most popular walking path at Victoria Peak. But most are far away from tourists' prying eyes.

It’s the kind of place where flashy luxury cars are constantly speeding by. I saw any number of Porsches, Bentleys, and Mercedes while walking around the neighborhood.

While the average luxury home in Hong Kong is worth around $4.9 million, houses in the city start at $40 million and can top out near $200 million, Bruce Li, manager, investments and commercial, at Asia Pacific Properties told Mansion Global.

The Peak has long been a neighborhood that caters to wealthy expats, many of whom work in international finance, the city's predominant industry. But even an apartment at the Peak costs a fortune, ranging from $7.7 million to $13 million, according to Li.

The most expensive apartment at Twelve Peaks, an ultraluxury apartment complex that opened in 2015, sold for $105 million. This is the main entrance to the complex.

The price for a townhouse averages $20 million. As one resident put it to Engel-Voelkers Real Estate, living on the Peak is “very pleasant.” “The higher up you get,” the resident said, “the quieter it gets and the air is noticeably cooler.”

Security is tight on the Peak. Barbed wire lines the top of fences, security guards sit in guardhouses at the front of every apartment complex, and houses are set far away from the road behind large security gates.

Despite the neighborhood's secluded mountain top location, there are a few commercial areas for residents, as well as private schools and parks. This supermarket looked like it was plucked right out of Whole Foods.

The cars in the parking lot of the supermarket weren’t too shabby, either.

The neighborhood is one of two neighborhoods that are home to Hong Kong's wealthiest and most powerful citizens. C.Y. Leung, Hong Kong's chief executive from 2012 to 2017, lives in the neighborhood. This is his house.

In most cases, the houses and apartment complexes are so far set into the mountain and off the main roads that all you can see is the gate.

When I tried to see what lay below at King's Court, a complex of townhouses and apartments, all I could see was a series of winding roads. However, the view, clear to the water, was spectacular.

"Privacy and the view from The Peak make it sought-after," Zackary Wright, senior vice president of Christie's International Real Estate, told Mansion Global. "There is a long winding road up to The Peak and many homes are hidden behind trees, which impart a sense of remoteness, even though this is a large and exclusive community in the hills."

While the Peak has always been highly sought-after — and Hong Kong exorbitantly expensive as a whole — the market has been pushed to new heights due to a wave of purchases by business magnates from mainland China. In 2016, Chinese buyers bought an estimated $514 million worth of property on the Peak.

In 2016, Chen Hongtian, the Chinese chairman of real estate development firm Cheung Kei Group, purchased a 9,600-square-foot mansion at 15 Gough Hill Road for $270 million, or about $28,000 per square foot.

Chen's new abode is currently under redevelopment. Of the exorbitant purchase, Chen told the South China Morning Post, "It's not for speculation … You can hardly make any profit from properties like this." Chen said he intends to live there with his family.

Chen also owns a 5,154-square-foot apartment at Opus Hong Kong, a Frank Gehry-designed apartment building at The Peak. The last available apartment at Opus sold in 2015 for $66 million, making it the most expensive apartment in Asia at the time by price per square-foot, according to Wright.

One of the most famous, and historical, houses at the Peak is the house of the Chief Justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.

The Chief Justice's security is top notch. In addition to the high-spiked fence and cameras, there was security standing around the property.

The house was built in 1893 and is known as the Clavadel. It was one of the first houses built on The Peak.

I could glimpse the house and the grounds from the road. It's very regal.

These modern townhouses are at 37 Severn Road, once considered the most expensive street in the world.

Severn Road has since been overtaken by nearby Pollock's Path, according to Wealth-X's most recent report in 2014.

Last year, Hong Kong billionaire Yeung Kin-man purchased No. 1 and 3 on Pollock's Path for $361 million. Yeung's company, Biel Crystal Manufactory, makes screens for two out of every three iPhones in the world.

The record price for real estate in the city was broken in December when Lin Zhongmin purchased two apartments in No. 8 Mount Nicholson for $147.8 million, or $16,824 per square foot.

The record was broken again last month in the same development. An unnamed buyer spent $178.4 million for this 9,217-square-foot villa featuring bedrooms, a swimming pool, and an elevator.

The house that Alibaba founder Jack Ma is reputed to have bought is at 22 Barker Road. It sold for $191 million, but it appeared to be under construction when I walked by. Little has been written about the property since the initial sale.

It's not hard to see what Ma, or any of China's uber-rich, see in the neighborhood. The landscape is truly unreal.

The hustle and bustle of the city is light years away. And yet, I walked down to central Hong Kong from Ma's supposed property in an hour. Not bad.

Next Story If you miss 'Game of Thrones' you should watch AMC's 'The Terror' - a historical horror series critics are calling a '10-episode nightmare'