Sun Hung Kai Properties wins Tai Po land parcel at tender for HK$6.31 billion

Sun Hung Kai Properties won a residential parcel in Tai Po for a higher-than-expected HK$6.31 billion (US$804 million) on Friday, its second successful government land tender in a month.

The price translates to HK$6,646 per square foot, 69 per cent higher than the previous site in the area which sold for HK$3,932 per square foot in 2016 to Sino Land but still 8.8 per cent lower than the peak of HK$7,284 per square foot paid by Sino Land in 2009 for the site now home to Mayfair by The Sea II.

“We are pleased to win the parcel. The scale of development is large … so we could build flats of different sizes there,” said Victor Lui, deputy managing director at Sun Hung Kai Properties, who estimated the total investment to be about HK$12 billion.

The plot is valued between HK$5.2 billion (US$663 million) and HK$6.2 billion, or HK$5,500 to HK$6,500 per square foot, according to Knight Frank.

“The price was slightly above expectation,” said Alvin Lam, director of Midland Surveyors.

“The demand of housing is more stable because there are end users and investor demand for housing.”

He said commercial projects were more volatile as they were driven less by end user demand and “usually for investment use only”.