Two residential sites, in Shouson Hill and Peng Chau, opened for tender last week attracted a strong response from developers, luring nine and 30 bidders respectively by the time tenders closed yesterday. The luxury residential site at 8-12 Deep Water Bay Drive, Shouson Hill, drew nine bids from developers including China Overseas Holdings, K Wah International, New World Development, and Manhattan Group, despite predictions that the winning bidder for the land will have to pay as much as HK$7.44 billion. 'Nine bids are quite a lot, given that the lump sum is likely to be high; I believe some developers have formed consortiums to bid for the site together,' said James Cheung King-tat, a director at Centaline Surveyors. 'It is in a prime location because it is in a luxury residential area.' Cheung estimates the site will sell for HK$7.44 billion, or HK$30,000 per square foot in terms of the maximum gross floor area of 248,132 square foot. He believes the winning bidder will be a ble to breaek even if it sells the flats to be built on the site for something over HK$36,000 per square foot. Estimates from three other surveying firms polled by the South China Morning Post ranged from between HK$4.46 billion to over HK$6.2 billion, or HK$18,000 to HK$25,000 per square foot. The site was triggered for public tender after the government received a guaranteed minimum bid of nearly HK$3.59 billion, or HK$14,489 per square foot. There are three 14-storey buildings on the land - former government quarters named Glendale that were completed in the late 1980s. Cheung said he was surprised that the other residential site on Peng Chau had attracted an overwhelming 30 bids, compared to just two bids when another site on the island was sold to Sino Land in March. 'It's possible that many bidders want to buy the land parcel for their own use, as it is expected to cost only a few million dollars,' he said. Cheung Kong and Sino Land are among the contenders for the site, which is next to a beach and has a sea view. Surveyors forecast that the Peng Chau site will sell for between HK$6.5 million and HK$13.7 million, which would equate to between HK$700 and HK$1,485 per square foot for the 12,297 square foot site. It was triggered for sale after the government received a minimum guaranteed bid of HK$5.5 million, or about HK$596 per square foot. Separately, the Lands Department yesterday announced it would invite bids for a 54,099 sq ft Tseung Kwan O residential site between June 22 and July 27, on which the winning bidder will be required to build between 360 and 378 flats.