I heard that there is a building that actually collects 9.4 billion Hong Kong dollars in rent a year? This is not a bragging, nor is it a distant legend, it is located in the IFC International Financial Center in Hong Kong's Central District!
Imagine the staggering amount of HK$9.4 billion in rental revenue, which far exceeds the annual revenue of Wanda Group's more than 500 shopping malls across the country. In other words, with a year's rental income, IFC can buy 5 super skyscrapers like Shenzhen's Ping An Financial Center!
IFC consists of the Twin Towers, divided into Phase 1 and Phase 2. Known as the "second tallest building in Hong Kong", the second phase of the building has a total of 88 floors and rises to a height of 418 meters. The first phase of the building is also 72 storeys high, and the total floor area of the two skyscrapers is a staggering 250,000 square meters, which can accommodate 15,000 people.
What kind of "gold-absorbing" spectacle is this? Let us clear the fog and get a glimpse of the true face.
Financial powerhouse fat cat party
If Hong Kong is Asia's financial center, then Central is the center of the center. This prime location is close to the core area of Hong Kong Island, and was once the birthplace of the opening up of the global QFII system, and once became the hottest rental highland in the world. Even now that the commercial centre of gravity is shifting eastward, rents in Central are among the best in the world, averaging US$3,455 per square metre per year, a far higher than the US$2,397 in London's West End.
In this high-class neighborhood where people float in a sea of money, stands the twin star towers of IFC, attracting global financial giants. IFC has become a must for people in the financial industry, and whoever can rent a place here is equivalent to stepping into the ranks of industry leaders.
Just by looking at the tenant lineup of IFC Phase 2, this is by no means for nothing:
Blackstone Group on the 9th floor, Standard Chartered Bank and Standard Chartered Securities on the 12th and 15th floors, Hillhouse Capital on the 22nd floor, Ping An Asset Management on the 23rd floor, Bank of Dongguan on the 25th floor, China Trust Commercial Bank on the 28th floor... I'm afraid even people in the industry can't believe that these golden signs are all gathered in the same building.
Not to mention that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority spent HK$3.7 billion to lease the 15th floor of the second phase of the 350,000-square-meter Super Universe. The Chief Executive of the HKMA has exclusive access to private elevators and enjoys the highest level of privilege treatment, reflecting the supremacy of his status.
The lineup of the first phase of the building is also famous, such as Nikko Securities on the 6th floor, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation on the 7th and 8th floors, Macquarie Group on the 18th and 23rd floors, China Development Bank on the 32nd and 33rd floors, and so on. Each office is a hegemon, and a giant on the first floor is really a group of heroes.
The most striking is the 45-52 floors of the second phase of the building, which was leased by UBS Hong Kong. The largest tenant of IFC Phase II has to pay a sky-high rent of 21.75 million yuan per month alone! You must know that this is a key pole in Hong Kong's connection to the international financial system, and it is natural that its strength is there.
Even the power center on the top floor of the 79th floor is rented by the International Monetary Fund's Hong Kong office. The IMF is clearly an excellent footnote to the status quo for highlighting the importance of financial status.
Recognized banknote printing machine
IFC is undoubtedly the world's highest-grossing building, generating over HK$9.4 billion in rental revenue for landlords every year. This is an astonishing fact: in Hong Kong, the real estate industry has completely become the most lucrative "cash cow"!
What does it mean to collect 9.4 billion Hong Kong dollars in rent a year? This means that IFC has completely recovered the 9.5 billion yuan cost of the 92-meter skyscraper of the Ping An Financial Center, the tallest building in Shenzhen, in one year and one month!
In other words, if you have five rental buildings like IFC, you can earn more than $47 billion a year in rental income. This figure alone has exceeded the annual revenue level of more than 500 Wanda Plazas under Wanda Group.
As you can imagine, for IFC's developers, rent collection is a walking money printing machine. They can sit back and wait for the rent to roll in, and share the spoils and eat, it is too easy to make money.
In contrast, what other investment channel can be more lucrative than real estate, which is becoming the most popular choice for local investors in Hong Kong. Collecting rent for the rest of his life, living a rich and noble life of eating, drinking, and having fun, carefree, who is not chased?
Li Ka-shing and Guo Desheng's families monopolize the town
So, who owns this fruitful big money tree? IFC's rent cake is divided among the "rich people"?
In addition to developers MTR Corporation and Towngas, IFC's largest shareholders are two of Hong Kong's top real estate families, the Henderson Land family and the Sun Hung Kai Properties family. The two giants can be said to have completely monopolized Hong Kong, a blue ocean town of real estate.
Among them, the Sun Hung Kai family is the most powerful, more than twice the size of the Kerry family. The International Commerce Centre (ICC), which is wholly owned by them, can earn $6 billion a year in rental income.
In contrast, Li Ka-shing, the richest man in Hong Kong once upon a time, and his Cheung Kong Asset Group are now just children in front of these upstart families.
In the future, Hong Kong's real estate rivers and lakes can be said to be divided by the two major families of Kwok Tak Shing and Lee Shau Kee. The two wealthy families will take all the core prime locations under their command, and they have the final say.
For the rich boy who was born in such a prominent gate, the worry is probably how to spend the astronomical amount of pocket money distributed every month. IFC divides dividends once a year, and they are already enough to eat, drink and be merry for a lifetime.
It can be said that the two major families of Guo and Li have made money easily with IFC, and now they have enjoyed the joy of family life by relying on the yin virtue accumulated by their ancestors, which is really the biggest winner in life!