By Joy Leung and Venus Wu
A little-known developer will pay HK$8.8 billion ($1.13 billion) for a plot of residential land in Hong Kong, almost double market forecasts, as the city grapples to contain prices in one of the worlds most expensive property markets.
The transaction marks the most expensive land deal yet this year.
Hongkong Island Construction Properties Company Limited, a unit of Total Thrive Holdings Limited, beat 19 other tenderers including the subsidiaries of China’s biggest property company China Vanke Company Ltd and Hong Kong’s largest developer Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd, according to a government statement.
The site, spanning 11,300 square metres with a maximum gross floor area of 60,800 square metres, is located near a stretch of land northeast of the iconic Victoria harbour that used to be the old Kai Tak Airport’s runway.
Four surveyors interviewed by Reuters previously put the estimate between HK$4.25 billion to HK$4.58 billion (US$550 million to US$590 million).
Hong Kong’s real estate is among the most expensive in the world. Government data released on Monday showed home prices rising for six consecutive months to hit the highest level in nearly a year.
(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
Source: Reuters