New | Chinese developers, Hong Kong government says xie xie
Mainland Chinese developers have set one record after another at Hong Kong’s land auctions, boosting receipts to a record
Hong Kong’s government revenue from land sales rose to a record HK$71.88 billion in the first nine months of the 2016 fiscal year ending March 31, as HNA Group led mainland Chinese developers in their buying spree in the city.
Chinese developers, driven away by market-cooling restrictions on the mainland and a desire to get their deteriorating currency out of the country, have outspent Hong Kong developers in three of the 23 land auctions this year, each time setting new records far exceeding market valuation.
“The frenetic buying spree by mainland developers gave us one surprise after another,” said Vincent Cheung Kiu-cho, executive director of valuation and advisory services for Asia at Colliers International. “Their ultra aggressiveness in Hong Kong far exceeded our expectations.”
Kai Tak, site of Hong Kong’s former airfield, is earmarked for residential development, potentially providing housing for as many as 90,000 residents with 83,000 jobs. Planned as Hong Kong’s second business district, the area will have 62.42 million sq ft of office space by 2020, double the space in Central.