Olympic fencing gold medalist Edgar Cheung buys $2M Hong Kong flat

Cheung acquired the 932-square-foot flat with three bedrooms and a utility room at the St Martin development through a tender in July, paying HK$17,300 per square foot (US$23,945 per square meter), the South China Morning Post reported, citing the first-hand transactions register.

Land Registry records list the buyer as Cheung Ka-long, the same name in both Chinese and English as the Olympic fencing champion.

The project was developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties, one of the city’s leading real estate firms.

Hong Kong Olympic fencer Edgar Cheung. Photo from Cheung's Instagram/@cheungkalonggggg

Cheung made history as Hong Kong’s first athlete to win two Olympic golds and also the first to successfully defend one. He claimed his first men’s individual foil title at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and retained it at the Paris 2024 Games.

The last time a fencer successfully retained the Olympic men’s foil title was in 1956, according to China Daily.

Cheung’s feat propelled him into the spotlight, making him a household name in the city of over 7 million residents.

It has also earned him at least HK$16.5 million in prize money, which would be enough to buy his new flat with cash, per The Standard.

Cheng’s home purchase comes amid signs of recovery in the city’s residential property market, with lived-in home prices climbing for the fourth straight month in July, according to Reuters.

Values have gained 1.05% since April to reach a seven-month high in July, trimming the overall decline for the year to 0.45%.

Some 5,291 residential units changed hands in August, down 8.2% from July but a 44.8% year-on-year surge.

Total transaction value was HK$42.2 billion, an 8.9% month-on-month drop but up 48.2% from a year ago.