12 bids for luxury residential site in Stanley

The government has drawn a strong response for the tender of a luxury residential site in Stanley, showing developers remain eager to build up land bank in the upmarket sector, which is more resilient in a market downturn.

A Lands Department spokesman said it received 12 bids for the site in Wong Ma Kok, Stanley, which could fetch HK$4.5 billion.
“We have seen a number of standalone houses sold for high prices as there will always be scarcity in Hong Kong,” Victor Lai Kin-fai, the chief executive of consultancy Centaline Professionals, said.

He said the winning developer would tend to build big houses which could be pitched at higher selling prices.

“The bigger, the more expensive due to the rare supply in the area,” Lai said, estimating a total investment cost of up to HK$7 billion.

The site attracted bids from Cheung Kong Property, Henderson Land Development, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Sino Land, Wheelock Properties; Citic, Tai Cheung Holdings, Regal International, Grand Ming Group Holdings, K & K Property and Regal Hotels International.

William Li Wing-sau, a director at Tai Cheung, said the firm was focused on building luxury residential projects.

“Prices for super deluxe homes is always less volatile than those for small to medium-sized flats because of limited supply,” he said on Friday.

Li said he was confident in the top-end sector’s outlook as property correction had limited impact on buying demand from the super rich.

The Centa-City Leading Index, which tracks secondary home prices at 100 estates, showed prices dropped 1.1 per cent week on week to 130.3 for the week to March 6. It also indicated home prices had fallen 11 per cent from September’s peak.

Wheelock Properties said it had submitted bids in nearly all government tenders, ranging from mass housing to luxury residential plots.

“We see a healthy development in the luxury residential market,” the company said.

On February 17, a three-storey detached house at Headland Road, Stanley, sold for HK$1.02 billion, or HK$85,440 per square foot of saleable area, in the most expensive luxury home transaction in Hong Kong this year.

Two days later, the developers of the Mount Nicholson luxury residential project, Wharf Holdings and Nan Fung Group, sold a house at the project for HK$830 million, or HK$87,784 per square foot.

The Wong Ma Kok site covers an area of 272,000 sq ft, with the winning bidder able to build homes with a total gross floor area of 226,000 sq ft.

Midland Surveyors estimate the site is worth HK$4.5 billion, or HK$20,000 per square foot.

“The site has generated a good response because of the rare supply of such large luxury residential sites on the south side of Hong Kong Island,” said Alvin Lam, a director at Midland Surveyors.

He said the site could be used to build 80 four-storey houses, each with an area of 2,800 square feet.