A property developer is to submit a bid for a luxury site in an attempt to trigger an auction after modifications to the government's land application list system. Wharf Estate Development said it would submit another bid for the site in Mount Kellett Road, even though two previous attempts failed earlier this month and in March. The 79,148 sq ft, low-density residential site can hold 14 houses of 3,000 sq ft each. Company director Ricky Wong Kwong-yiu said: 'The new rules make it easier for us to trigger an auction of a site. We will try again very soon and we believe the chances of success are high.' It is understood that other developers are considering submitting bids to trigger auctions of other sites, including an expensive site in Oil Street, North Point. Under the measures announced on Tuesday, developers only need to bid 80 per cent of the government's reserve price to trigger an auction of a site on the application list. An auction is then held five weeks later and after a revaluation by government surveyors. But some developers believe sites should not be revalued before auction, saying this would be unfair to the developer that brought the sale. Henderson Land general manager Tony Tse Wai-chuen said the new the system would lead to more developers trying to trigger auctions, but added they would not be able to buy land cheaply as sites would not be sold below their reserve price. Director of Lands Patrick Lau Lai-chiu yesterday said the government's land value estimates were fair and objective. He said the government and developers had been using the information to estimate land values over the past few decades. 'Everyone [in the property business] knows how to evaluate land prices and they use the same resources to do so,' he said.
