(Yicai) May 29 -- Real estate tycoons from the Chinese mainland have been actively selling their properties in Hong Kong at discounted prices to help ease their companies’ liquidity crises.

Xu Rongmao, chairman of struggling real estate developer Shimao Group Holdings, put on sale on May 27 a 2,915-square-meter property on the 63rd floor of The Center in Hong Kong for HKD730 million (USD93.4 million), down 15 percent from when he bought it in 2017, according to real estate information platform Reitse.

Hui Ka Yan, founder of debt-ridden builder China Evergrande Group, sold a luxury house at The Peak in Hong Kong for HKD470 million, with the price down nearly 47 percent from a year ago, Ming Pao reported on May 21.

It is normal for Chinese developers to sell their properties in Hong Kong because of liquidity crises and other factors. Yuzhou Group offered to sell a property in The Center for HKD500 million at the end of last year. CIFI Holdings Group and KWG Group Holdings also sold properties at lower prices than their market values.

Some builders are cash-strapped, and many of them choose to sell properties to recover funds and pay debts, said Liu Shui, director of corporate research at the China Index Academy. They bought most of the properties at a premium years ago when the real estate industry was rapidly growing, but now they need to sell at discounted prices to cash in as soon as possible, Liu noted.

The Hong Kong real estate market has been facing great downward pressure in the past two years, with big asset depreciation, said Song Hongwei, research director at real estate consultant firm Tospur. However, the market has not bottomed out, so it is reasonable for property developers to sell their properties now, Song added.

In addition, Chinese mainland real estate developers still face great pressure to repay debts, so they need to sell properties to get money, Song pointed out.

Editor: Futura Costaglione