A total of four Hong Kong property developers submitted bids for a residential land parcel in Tung Chung, the Lands Department said on Friday, after the government revised its requirements to accommodate cautious sentiment and high interest rates.
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Sino Land, Sun Hung Kai Properties and K. Wah International were among the bidders. Town Lot 55 in Area 106B is expected to house 745 flats. The city’s government put the 37,268-square-metre (401,000 sq ft) plot on the market in 2023 but withdrew it when bids were judged to be underwhelming.
Bernadette Linn Hon-ho, the secretary for development, said last month that offering the site in the current quarter would be appropriate given the prevailing market environment, views from stakeholders, the MTR Corp’s recent successful tender of a nearby site and the “gradual completion of public housing in the area”.
Authorities had made efforts to accommodate more small and medium-sized units, according to Alvin Lam, a director at Midland Surveyors, which is expected to reduce the project’s investment risk and increase a developers’ desire to participate.
“The project is relatively remote from the urban area of Tung Chung and there are still a lot of projects in the surrounding area to be developed,” Lam said. He added that land supply in Tung Chung is abundant, which would affect property prices and developers would be cautious as a result. The site was valued at about HK$521 million (US$66.9 million), which was calculated from an accommodation value of HK$1,300 per square foot, he added.
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The government said so far this financial year, revenue from land sales stood at HK$4 billion. In a budget speech in February 2024, the city’s financial secretary said revenue from land sales was expected to be HK$33 billion.