Hong Kong, Sep 15 (DPA) A one-bedroom flat in a luxury Hong Kong development has sold for a record $3.16 million in a sign that the city’s property slump is over, a news report said Tuesday.
The 75.8 square metre apartment in the city’s Tsim Sha Tsui district has 54.8 square metres of useable living space — once walls and partitions are discounted, the South China Morning Post reported.

The flat is on the 54th floor of a 64-floor development called The Masterpiece, Hong Kong’s second-tallest residential building, and is the smallest unit in the development.

An estate agent told the newspaper that the buyer, a Hong Kong businessman, paid nearly $42,000 per square metre because of the flat’s location and its views over Victoria Harbour.

The price is a record for a one-bedroom flat. Hong Kong’s most expensive apartment is a 658 square metre flat in the Mid-Levels district, which sold for $30.9 million in 2007.

The most expensive residential property is a 306 square metre house in the exclusive Peak district on Hong Kong island that sold for $36.7 million in June 2008.

Property prices have rallied strongly in Hong Kong in recent months as stock prices have soared and the city’s economy has shown signs of emerging quickly from the global recession.