The tender for a plot in Kai Tak on Friday attracted better-than-expected response as one surveyor cut the estimated value of commercial land on the site of Hong Kong’s former airport by up to 20 per cent after a high-profile sale was abandoned in June. The Lands Department said on Friday that 10 developers submitted bids. The Post found that the bidders included Sun Hung Kai Properties, CK Asset Holdings, Wheelock Properties, Sino Land, China Overseas Land& Investment, Great Eagle Holdings, Far East Consortium, K&K Property, submitted bids for the parcel near the proposed Kai Tak Sports Park. The estimates from CHFT Advisory and Appraisal for the commercial plot, that can yield a gross floor area of up to 344,448 square feet, was slashed from between HK$4.25 billion (US$542 million) and HK$4.5 billion in mid-May to between HK$3.4 billion and HK$3.6 billion. Wharf Holdings warns China’s stringent property curbs could weigh on future profit “The number of bidders is higher than expected,” said Thomas Lam, executive director at Knight Frank, whose valuation was even lower from HK$2.7 billion to HK$3.2 billion. “It is possible some developers submitted the bid to get bargains.” Lam, however, said developers would be “relatively conservative” when tendering because of the current “social movement” and “US-China trade war”. Alex Leung, senior director at CHFT Advisory And Appraisal, echoed Lam’s view, adding that “the office and hotel components cannot be sold separately, which makes the investment long-term”. According to Leung, it is the smallest parcel in Kai Tak in terms of gross floor area and the cheapest since 2014. The tender for the plot comes nearly two months after Goldin Financial Holdings reneged on its bid for a HK$11.12 billion commercial parcel on Kai Tak’s runway on June 11, citing “social contradiction and economic instability”. The abandoned parcel was offered again on Thursday under new rules that doubled the deposit to reduce chances of any more defaults for land tenders. Converting old civil servants’ buildings multiplies the number of flats and could help relieve Hong Kong’s land shortage, say analysts Meanwhile, property prices fell across the board last month as protests against the now suspended extradition bill gained momentum and the escalating US-China trade war sent buyers to the sidelines. Property agency Midland IC&I said prices and rents of grade A and grade B offices dropped for the first time since February 2016. While data from the Rating and Valuation Department showed that prices of used homes dropped 0.8 per cent in June, Centaline Property Agency’s Centa-City Leading Index showed it fell by a sharper 1.1 per cent between the end of June and the week ended August 4. Wong Leung-sing, senior associate director of research at Centaline, said the unstable social sentiment could herald the start of falling home prices. On Wednesday, a buyer forfeited a deposit of HK$1.99 million for reneging on a deal to buy a 1,808 sq ft flat in Yuen Long worth HK$39.79 million. Asking prices of a number of prime street shops have also been slashed. A 95 sq ft shop on Lockhart Road in Wan Chai has seen its asking price reduced by 44 per cent to HK$4.98 million, from HK$8.9 million in 2012.