A luxury residential property belonging to the United States Consulate General on Hong Kong Island may change hands by the end of the year, after the diplomatic mission zeroed in on one offer amid deteriorating ties with China.

The consulate on May 30 announced its intention to offload 37 Shouson Hill, which it had owned since 1948. The plot consists of six blocks of multistory residences built in 1983, now said to be worth up to HK$6 billion (US$774 million).

News of the property being up for sale was reported a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced kickstarting the process to end Hong Kong’s special trade status with Washington.

According to the consulate on Wednesday, it was customary for the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations under the U.S. Department of State to review its portfolio of overseas buildings every year. The bureau decided on selling the Hong Kong property this year and had received multiple bids by the deadline of July 31, the consulate said.

The U.S. government had accepted one bid and notified the failed bidders, and would make a decision before Dec. 31 as to whether to go ahead with the sale. No other details could be revealed as the transaction was still ongoing, the consulate added.

The sale was purely a commercial decision that would not affect the existence, hiring or operations of the consulate, and the revenue would be plowed back into other U.S. government assets in Hong Kong, it said.

The U.S. presidential election will take place on Nov. 3, before the expected closing of the transaction. The sole bidder of the upscale property is rumored to be local conglomerate Cheung Kong, which is said to have offered HK$2.8 billion. Cheung Kong and the consulate have both denied the rumor, with the consulate saying that it had received multiple bids and needed time to analyze each offer, thus delaying the announcement of the news to Wednesday.

An academic with the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s business school saw the sale of the property as “more or less a political move.”

Many factors might change during the three-month period for completing the sale, such as the result of the U.S. election and sanctions imposed by Washington, increasing the risks of the sale as time passed, senior lecturer Simon Lee said. Either side might scrap the deal, he said.

Lee added that the market would be interested to know who the buyer was and the political significance behind the sale. If the transaction could not be completed, it would be an even greater mystery as to why the property was put on sale considering the tough market situation after the enactment of Hong Kong’s national security law, he said.

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