Bid for Lantau site triggers first land auction of the year

A small land site on Lantau Island will be put on sale in an open auction next month, the first in almost a year, after the government accepted the minimum bid of $14.5 million from a developer.

Surveyors said because of the tiny size of the auction, it would not have any major impact on the property market, and large developers remained uninterested in triggering land sales because the government's targeted floor prices were still higher than what they want to bid for.

The site, located at Cheung Fu Street, would be auctioned on July 18 at an opening bid of $14.46 million, the government said yesterday. It will be the first government land auction this financial year and the first since August last year.

The 24,111 square feet site is designated for private residential use. It has a plot ratio of 0.4 based on town planning regulations and can provide a total gross floor area of 9,645 sq ft. A Lands Department officer said the site may be developed into a low-density residential project with about nine townhouses.

Surveyors said the minimum bid, at $1,500 per square foot, is reasonable, based on the transaction data on the Lantau Island. The government did not reveal the name of the developer who submitted the bid and triggered the auction.

'The development site's target is a unique property market. Only small developers are interested in the site. I believe the auction is triggered by a small developer,' said Charles Chan Chiu-kwok, a director at Savills. 'As the site is small and far from an urban area, the coming auction will have no implication for the property market.