A source close to both parties disclosed details of the deal which will see AEW sell the 14-storey Aveny serviced apartment building that it had held for just three years.

The firm, which bought the former Mood Hotel for around HK$220 million in 2015, put the Aveny building up for sale last year at a reported asking price of HK$280 million. However, it is since said to have reduced that expectation by about HK$40 million due to the slowing down of Hong Kong's market in the second half of this year.

According to Antonio Wu, deputy managing director of Capital Markets and Investment Services for Colliers, the buyer was a local individual investor who intends to hold the property as a long-term investment.

Wu, who represented AEW, would not confirm the reported HK$240 million sale price cited but he suggested the transaction price did not reach the HK$250 million level that had been cited in some local media reports. AEW declined to comment on the reported deal.

The building, at 31 Wyndham Street, also has a restaurant on the ground floor and stands in the middle of Hong Kong's entertainment district, close to popular nightlife areas and just a 10-minute walk to Central's prime business district.

AEW had refitted the 8,916 square foot (828 square metre) building, which has a footprint of 810 square feet, into 11 apartments, for which each will occupy its own floor. The units cater mostly to working financial professionals.

According to the Aveny's official website, the apartments on offer range from 57.14 square metres to 67.82 square metres and cost from HK$32,000 to HK$43,000 monthly.

Various add-on services, such as daily housekeeping, daily linen changes and free wireless broadband internet service, so the average unit rental of HK$52 per square foot is 30 per cent higher than the average residential rental of HK$40 per square foot per month in the surrounding area around the property.

Serviced Apartment Summit MEA 2019 takes place in November, in Dubai.