Developers will hold flats rather than sell below cost, says Wheelock chief
Wheelock Properties' Stewart Leung Chi-kin has shifted the company’s focus to development. He also insists that developers will hold flats rather than sell them at prices that are below cost
Stewart Leung Chi-kin has spent about 80 per cent of his more than five decades in Hong Kong’s property industry at New World Development. Since joining the company in 1970, Leung has helped former chairman Cheng Yu-tung turn it into one of the four biggest developers in the city.
In 2010, Leung stepped down from his roles as executive director and group general manager to become a non-executive director so as to make room for the younger generation of Chengs. He left New World in January 2012.
On February 1, 2012, Leung, at the age of 73, became chairman of Wheelock Properties, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Wheelock & Co. He is also chairman of the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong.
Q: When you took the helm of Wheelock Properties, you had plans to turn the company into one of the leading players in the Hong Kong property market. Is everything on schedule? Are you satisfied with the performance so far?
A: The company’s focus was more on investment properties rather than development before I joined. I wanted to make a change. We bought eight sites from 2012 to 2013, including four in Tseung Kwan O, one in Tuen Mun and one in Ho Man Tin, at a total cost of about HK$16 billion. I had set a target for myself: when I spend HK$10 billion on land purchases, I should earn back property sales of HK$10 billion.