Record HK$17.3 billion Hong Kong Land Sale Shows Market Still Hot

By Paul Panckhurst and Frederik Balfour
/ Bloomberg |
Join our  Telegram  channel and follow our  Facebook  for the latest update.
A consortium including Sino Land Co. paid a record HK$17.3 billion ($3 billion) for a plot of residential land in Hong Kong, signaling the property market is still running hot.
Shimao Property Holdings Ltd., Wheelock Properties Ltd., K Wah International Holdings Ltd. and SEA Holdings Ltd. were the other members of the group, the Lands Department said in a statement late Wednesday. The group beat out nine other bidders, including Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. and New World Development Co.
Hong Kong’s residential property market, the world’s most expensive, continues to hit fresh highs even as cracks start to appear in the outlook for prices amid rising interest rates.
Advertisement
Housing in the Cheung Sha Wan area of Kowloon (Photographer: Xaume Olleros/Bloomberg)
Housing in the Cheung Sha Wan area of Kowloon (Photographer: Xaume Olleros/Bloomberg)
Commercial property, where Hong Kong rents are the highest in the world, is also in demand. A Chinese state firm this month led the record HK$40.2 billion acquisition of a 75 percent stake in The Center, a 346-meter skyscraper, from Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset Holdings Ltd.
The site sold yesterday at Cheung Sha Wan in Kowloon has a maximum floor area of 91,770 square meters, the lands department said. The price is a record for residential land, surpassing the HK$16.9 billion paid for a site in Ap Lei Chau in February.
At a land cost price of HK$17,500 per square foot, the implied selling price when the development is completed in three or four years would range from $30,000 to $33,000 per square foot, said Raymond Cheng, director of Hong Kong and China property research at CIMB Securities Ltd.
Price Range
The market was expecting a price between HK$14,000 and HK$18,000 per square foot, he said, noting that the winning bid was on the high side because the larger consortium, with five members, could bid more aggressively.
Though the Cheung Sha Wan site is a record for a lump sum purchase of government land, the square foot cost was far lower than the HK$22,118 paid by two mainland companies, Logan Property Holdings and KWG Property Holding for the Ap Lei Chau site, he said.
The Cheung Sha Wan project has ocean views and is adjacent to the West Kowloon district where the government is building a multi-billion dollar museum complex and high-speed rail terminus connecting Hong Kong to China.
Advertisement
— With assistance by Jasmine Wang
This story, written by Paul Panckhurst and Frederik Balfour for Bloomberg, first appeared on Nov 15.

Follow Us
Follow our channels to receive property news updates 24/7 round the clock.
EdgeProp Telegram
EdgeProp Facebook
Subscribe to our newsletter

Our Site

Edgeprop.sg (previously known as The Edge Property Singapore) is the best property portal for real estate agents, investors, home-seekers and sellers alike in Singapore. On EdgeProp, you will be able to find the latest and hottest property news, property listings, and access tools for your research and analysis.

Whether you are looking to buy, sell or rent apartments, condominiums, executive condos, HDBs, landed houses, commercial properties or industrial properties, we bring you Singapore’s most comprehensive and up-to-date property news and thousands of listings to facilitate your property decisions. Click into any listing to check out the new AI Redesign tool to envision your property based on your preferred style, be it Scandinavian, Minimalist or many others.

View More