Big developers in Hong Kong take cautious approach to land auctions
Following measures to rein in Hong Kong's sky-high property prices, the major players are taking a cautious stance towards land acquisitions
The two biggest developers have sharply scaled back their land acquisitions since the government rolled out a series of cooling measures to rein in property prices.
On the other hand, some developers who do not have a big land bank have stepped into the vacuum left by the withdrawal of the big players, among them Wheelock Properties, which has spent HK$9.63 billion to acquire four sites since October; and Chinachem, which acquired two sites in Yuen Long and Tseung Kwan O.
Research by the South China Morning Post shows that since the first of the cooling measures were introduced in October, the biggest Hong Kong developer by value - Sun Hung Kai Properties - spent HK$3.97 billion acquiring residential sites under government tenders.
That's down almost 70 per cent compared with the same period a year ago.
Cheung Kong (Hong Kong), the developer controlled by Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing, bought just one site in the period from November to the end of June, for HK$2.9 billion. In the run-up to October last year it spent HK$6.27 billion obtaining two sites, in North Point and Central.
Sino Land, which has a reputation for being one of the most aggressive bidders at land auctions, spent HK$1.46 billion to buy just one residential site in Sai Kung. That's a drop of 71 per cent on its spending from December 2011 to September last year. However, measured on a year-on-year basis, its spending surged 96.62 per cent, as it bought only two small sites, on Lantau Island and Peng Chau, between October 2011 and July last year.