SPECULATION that the Government intends to make a massive reduction to plot ratios in Kowloon has alarmed the property industry, which says it stands to lose millions of dollars if plans go ahead.
The Government is planning to gazette outlying zonal plans on Friday. But according to industry sources, this would lead to a reduction of plot ratios from 15 to 12 for commercial buildings in Kowloon.
Plot ratios limit the total amount of floor space a developer can build on a site. According to the plot ratio formula, the total floor space for a building has to be within a defined ratio of the square footage of the site itself.
They can vary from building to building depending on location, street position and other factors.
Grace Ng, information officer at the Lands and Works Department, would neither confirm nor deny reports of plans to reduce plot ratios. But she admitted it was a major feature in the plans to be gazetted.
Neil Palmer, head of the Kowloon office for estate agents First Pacific Davies (FPD), said that whereas now a 10,000-square-foot site with a plot ratio of 15 could be developed to include 150,000 sq ft of floor space, such a property would lose 30,000 square feet of floor area if the plot ratio was reduced to 12.