Hong Kong government to sell off site on top of West Kowloon station expected to fetch record US$11.5 billion

The Hong Kong government is putting up for tender the biggest and most expensive plot of land it has ever sold, shrugging off concerns about the effects of unprecedented civil unrest on market sentiment.

The six-hectare commercial site directly on top of the West Kowloon high-speed rail terminus is expected to fetch a record price of about HK$90 billion (US$11.5 billion).

It is seen attracting a winning bid of between HK$20,000 and HK$28,000 per square foot. That estimate, by Knight Frank, has dropped considerably since January – long before the start of anti-government protests – when it was seen fetching between HK$27,000 and HK$35,000, or HK$79 billion to HK$110 billion.

Despite the downward revision, the estimated bid price would still be the record-high in a city already known as the least affordable in the world.

“The political crisis in the city, and external factors and uncertainties such as the US-China trade war and Brexit in the UK have led us to revise downward our estimate for the tender price of the plot,” said Thomas Lam, executive director at property consultancy Knight Frank.

The tender will launch on September 20 and will close at noon of November 22.