OF the three sites at yesterday's auction most attention was focused on a 164,151-square-foot residential lot in Tai Po.
The site sold yesterday, next to a similar one bought at auction by Sino Land in March when the local property market was at its peak, had been expected to serve as a good indicator of developers' sentiments.
Accessible to the Kowloon-Canton Railway and in a fast-emerging centre of Hong Kong, the site had been expected to draw a lot of bidding. In the end, CITIC Pacific was the sole developer to come forward.
Sino paid a record price of $2.14 billion - or an accommodation value of $4,480 per sq ft - in March for its neighbouring site when the market was strong.
Yesterday's site was zoned for low-density housing with a potential area of 271,576 sq ft. It was the third lot of Crown land for sale in the newly developed residential district this financial year.
Situated at Ha Wong Yi Au and close to Tolo Harbour, the plot, together with Sino's site, is zoned for medium-rise residential use and described as a new luxury residential area in Tai Po.
The other two sites are zoned for godown and industrial uses - the first time the Government disposed of industrial lots of Crown land at public auction this financial year.