HONG KONG - A LUXURY flat in Hong Kong has been sold for HK$225 million (S$39.5 million), the most expensive apartment per square foot (psf) ever sold in Asia, a newspaper report said yesterday.

The 80th floor penthouse with a private swimming pool and spectacular view of Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour sold for HK$41,000 psf, a report in the Sing Tao Daily said, citing an unnamed real estate source.

The 5,497-sq-ft flat, with its own roof-top terrace, is in a new complex called The Arch, in Hong Kong's Kowloon area.

It is not known if the buyer is a Hong Konger or foreigner.

The Arch is close to a yet-to-be-completed office tower, the International Commerce Centre.

The new tower is attracting multi-national companies away from the central business district, where rocketing property prices have scared away even the world's richest firms.

The flat's price beat the record of HK$39,800 psf set last November for a larger apartment on Hong Kong island, according to the report.

Hong Kong's property market has boomed in recent years, following a major crash during the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.

The record price of the Kowloon apartment came amid a global report published yesterday that investors are pouring funds into Asian property, as they lose confidence in the United States and European property markets due to the credit crisis.

The Financial Times reported that property investment in Asia grew by 27 per cent to US$121 billion (S$165.7 billion) last year.

- AFP

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