Something rather astonishing is happening in the residential enclave on Coloane’s Hac Sa Beach, known as Hellene Garden.
In December 2004, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas bought their 1,165 sq. foot first floor apartment and one car park in Hellene Garden for HK$640,000. Fast forward to March this year, and they sold it for HK$8.2 million, almost thirteen times their original investment. Similar stories abound. A top floor apartment in another block with an (illegal) internal staircase to the roof, started life costing just HK$500,000 in the early 2000s, and sold earlier this year for HK$8.6 million. And we have a new listing on our books, with a car park, – same size, three bedrooms, middle floor, with frankly a less than lovely view into the back of another building, that’s asking HK$11 million. Scary stuff!
The complex is not known for being well built or well managed. Concrete spalling is clearly visible in many of the public areas. Word has it that cheaper sea sand rather than the more expensive river sand from freshwater channels was used for making the concrete, a worryingly common practice in China I gather. This can cause all sorts of structural damage as un-treated marine sand contains chlorine and salt, which corrodes the reinforcing steel bars positioned inside the concrete. The concrete around the bars spalls or cracks, chunks fall off and the integrity of the building is weakened.
After a tussle between disgruntled owners and the management company that went on for several years, the management was finally given the boot and each building now takes care of its own public areas. Huge efforts are being made by the residents to get these under control, tidied up and safe. Whilst the external facades of the buildings still look dilapidated, gardens are lovingly tended and smart new dark green gates with gold embellishments are popping up at the entrances of the various towers.
So despite the problems, prices for apartments at Hellene Garden continue to climb. Is it because families are being hounded out of the central Taipa and Macau real estate, which has become just too unaffordable? Or perhaps they don’t want the gaudy, shiny newness of some of the new builds like One Grantai? Or they want bedrooms bigger than the size of walk in cupboards, prevalent in other buildings coming on the market such as at One Oasis? Perhaps it’s simply the quieter, greener lifestyle offered in Coloane.
Whichever it is, Hellene Garden has been an extraordinarily successful investment story for many. But there again, these are extraordinary times that we live in here in Macau.