Sun Hung Kai pays a record HK$42.23 billion for Austin Road commercial plot in Hong Kong’s costliest land tender
- The parcel is located at Austin Road atop the West Kowloon High-Speed Rail station
- The winner beat CK Asset Holdings, a consortium comprising Wharf Holdings, Sino Land, Henderson Land Development, Chinese Estate Holdings and Lifestyle International Holdings
Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), Hong Kong’s largest developer by value, has won the biggest parcel of commercial land ever sold in the city for a record HK$42.23 billion (US$5.4 billion).
The commercial site is located at Austin Road atop the West Kowloon High-Speed Rail station. The winning bid of HK$13,345 per square foot was at the low end of a valuation range of between HK$41.1 billion and HK$63 billion, or between HK$13,000 per square foot and HK$20,000 per sq ft.
“It is definitely at the low end. It is mainly because the market is not good,” said Alex Leung, senior director at CHFT Advisory And Appraisal, who attributed the downbeat sentiment to the civil unrest gripping Hong Kong and the US-China trade war. “When the market is not good and there is an uncertainty, then investors will certainly be very conservative.”
The low price per square foot indicates developers are pessimistic about market prospects, said James Cheung, executive director at Centaline Surveyors.
“The government is also downbeat on the parcel’s valuation, which helped ensure it was not withdrawn,” Cheung added.