Developers vie for Hong Kong plot as large as two basketball courts

Firms’ confidence in the property market not as weak as imagined despite protests

Against the backdrop of protests, Hong Kong development firms are jostling for a narrow land plot in Tuen Mun.

Sun Hung Kai Properties is the latest to have added its name to a fray of developers submitting bids on the plot between King Sau Lane and King Fung Path, reported the South China Morning Post. The plot is reportedly only as large as two-and-a-half basketball courts.

This brings the number of bids on the plot to eighteen, the Post added, citing figures issued by the Chinese SAR’s Lands Department last week.

The plot has been among the smallest ones put on the market by the government since 2014, yet response to its sale has been “strong”, Alvin Lam, director at Midland Surveyors, told the Post.

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“Sun Hung Kai Properties is confident about it because [its development] Mount Regency sold well,” Lam said, referring to the project located just beside the plot.

Other development firms in contention for the land include Sino Land, K Wah International Holdings, Emperor International Holdings, Far East Consortium, HKR International, Wang On Properties, Chevalier International Holdings, Grand Ming Group Holdings, Lai Sun Development, Chinese Estates Holdings, Top Spring International Holdings, K&K Property Holdings and Evergreen International Holdings.

“Among big developers, Sino Land is more engaged in small projects,” Lam told the Post. “Their confidence about market prospects is not as weak as imagined. As long as the project is attractive, they will still go ahead, even if it is a small one.”

Due to the ongoing demonstrations, rents on Hong Kong’s main island may fall two percent in the next year, according to a survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors via Bloomberg. The volume of residential property traded already fell 35 percent year-on-year in July, Ricacorp Properties Ltd reported.