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The departures hall of Hong Kong International Airport in Chek Lap Kok on 31January 2021. Photo: Felix Wong

Galliard sets up Hong Kong sales office to serve rising demand for UK homes by BN(O) migrants

  • Galliard Homes has set up a new sales centre in Wan Chai with five employees, part of a 10-member team in the Asia-Pacific region
  • The 2022 sales target for the Hong Kong office is £50 million to £80 million. So far, it has sold seven units in Hong Kong worth a total of £5 million

United Kingdom developers are lining up to set up offices in Hong Kong to serve the hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers who are expected to buy homes there under the fast-track British National (Overseas) residency scheme.

Galliard Homes, one of the largest privately held property developers in London and across the UK, has set up a new sales centre in Wan Chai with five employees, part of a 10-member team in the Asia-Pacific region.

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, customers from Hong Kong and mainland China have been “less willing to travel to London to buy [property], but prefer to buy [while] being based in Hong Kong,” said the developer’s director of international sales Ben Waterman. “They want face-to-face meetings with Galliard’s staff [who are equipped with] scale models, a large marketing suite and dedicated staff.”

About 5.4 million of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents are eligible to relocate to the UK under the BN(O) scheme, creating the demand for between 258,000 and 322,400 homes over the next five years, according to estimates by the British government. About 89,000 of those eligible have applied for migration under the scheme since January 2021, with more than 76,000 approvals as of September.

Source: UK government. SCMP Graphics
The BN(O) scheme was London’s response to the sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong, which the UK viewed as a violation of the Sino-British pact that guaranteed high degree of autonomy to the former British colony until 2047. The governments of Hong Kong and China reject the BN(O) passport as a valid travel document.

Galliard has been selling UK properties and holding exhibitions in Hong Kong for about 30 years. The developer sold the entire top floor of its TCRW Soho apartment building with seven penthouse units to a Chinese billionaire last November for a record £21.4 million (US$29.1 million) for conversion into one or two “mega penthouse units.”

Computer illustration of the exterior of the TCRW Soho apartments on Oxford Street. Source: Galliard Homes

The sale was the most expensive home ever sold on Oxford Street and wider West End, underscoring the lucrativeness and importance of opening the Hong Kong office.

There is “a small growth in presence from developers subject to the ongoing restrictions, working closely alongside reputable agents on the ground to service clients” in Hong Kong, who provide a large and reliable sales market for developers, said Colliers’ UK head of international residential properties Isobel Sparrow.

Galliard typically sells between £150 million and £180 million worth of homes, or 80 to 150 units per year, to Hong Kong and mainland Chinese buyers.

The 2022 sales target for the Hong Kong office is £50 million to £80 million. So far, it has sold seven units in Hong Kong worth a total of £5 million.

The penthouse of Galliard Homes’ Baltimore Tower in London’s Canary Wharf. Photo: Handout

“Around 70 per cent of the sales to Hong Kong buyers were led [by] owners buying for their own occupation, or parents buying for their children or relatives,” Waterman said. “The introduction of the BN(O) visa has had a big impact, and Galliard Homes are seeing more Hong Kong buyers purchasing for their own use, rather than for rental investments.”

This booming demand is making it reasonable for UK developers to consider expanding in Hong Kong, according to Marc von Grundherr, director of London-based property agency Benham and Reeves.

“Traditionally, the task of opening a base of operations in Hong Kong simply hasn’t been cost-efficient for developers and so they’ve relied heavily on exhibitions with already established agents like us to reach Hong Kong buyers directly,” von Grundherr said. “This has started to change and probably the most notable is the arrival of Galliard. While they’ve been marketing to Hong Kong homebuyers for over 30 years, this is the first time they’ve set up shop on Hong Kong soil and this decision has been driven by the sustained demand for UK homes among Hong Kong (buyers).”

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