Chinachem wins Hong Kong tender after surveyors cut estimate by 10 per cent, in another sign of Hong Kong’s cooling market
- A total of eight bids were received, from 31 expressions of interest
- Even MTR has cut its share of profit from selling homes on the parcel by 10 percentage points
Chinachem Group won a big land parcel in one of Hong Kong’s upmarket suburbs after surveyors cut their valuation by 10 per cent, another sign of softening property prices in the world’s most expensive home market.
The site next to the Ho Man Tin subway station – with a gross floor area of 639,382 square feet (59,400 square metres), or the size of nine football fields – is estimated at HK$12.8 billion (US$1.63 billion), 10 per cent less than an earlier valuation, after the government scrapped a tender at the city’s exclusive The Peak enclave.
MTR Corp, which operates the city’s subway and possesses the development right to the parcel, awarded the tender to Chinachem Group on Tuesday.
Eight bids were submitted for the Ho Man Tin parcel, from 31 expressions of interest, when the tender closed on Monday.
“The housing market has been buffeted by headwinds recently,” said James Cheung, executive director at Centaline Surveyors, who had expected more than 10 bids for the Ho Man Tin parcel. “The tender of a luxury housing site on The Peak also flopped unexpectedly.”
Hong Kong’s property prices have taken a break from 28 consecutive months of gains through August, ever since a government proposal of a vacancy tax forced developers to add completed apartments to the housing stock. The city’s banks also ended a decade of low-interest mortgages, further dousing the urge of property speculators.
