Sino Land Buys Mong Kok Site for Fourth New Project in Five Weeks

Developer Sino Land teamed with Chuang’s Consortium International to grab a site in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok district yesterday for an estimated HK$1.8-2 billion ($230 -256 million), according to a statement released by the city’s Urban Renewal Authority.

The purchase of the plot at the government auction marks the fourth residential site the Singapore-linked property group has acquired in the last month, bringing the value of land purchased by the company and its joint venture partners within the last five weeks to around HK$36 billion ($4.6 billion).

The 1,389 square metre Mong Kok site is a urban renewal project situated just five minutes walk away from Langham Place, an iconic shopping mall in Kowloon. Already approved for creation of about 187 residential units, the project can yield a total residential gross floor area of about 10,424 square metres with permission for another 2,085 square metres of commercial GFA.

Beating Out 15 Competitors for 7th Site of 2017

Sino Land outbid 15 other offers for the site, with the company’s general manager of sales Victor Tin praising the project’s prime location as well as its close links to public transportation in a statement to the media.

The Hong Kong-listed developer has been on a spending spree after previously acquiring three residential sites in the past month, and seven in total this year. Last Friday, Sino won a tender to redevelop the former headquarters of electricity company CLP Group in Mong Kok into a luxury residential project. The developer, which has a market cap of just under $11 billion, is estimated to have paid approximately HK$7.5 billion ($959 million) for that parcel.

Early this month, Sino Land partnered with Kerry Properties to win a tender for a site the Wong Chuk Hang area valued at HK$ 8.9 to 10 billion. That southern Hong Kong island acquisition came the developer had in mid-November joined a consortium including Wheelock Properties, Shimao Property Holdings, SEA Holdings and K Wah International to grab a residential site in Kowloon’s Cheung Sha Wan for HK$17.28 billion which won the title as the city’s most expensive residential land.

Gearing Up for a Competitive 2018

Sino Land’s aggressive stance in Hong Kong’s 2017 land sales can be attributed to the company’s optimism regarding the city’s property market, Victor Lai Kin-fai, chief executive at consultancy Centaline Professionals, told Mingtiandi in a phone interview. Lai noted that many developers have also made up joint ventures in bidding lands to diversify the risks

With the local government slowing the release of land for tender in the coming year, Lai expects Hong Kong’s property prices to remain high in the near future as the slowdown creates a shortage of sites.

Demand from both local and overseas homebuyers also figures into the equation. “Hong Kong’s housing market is not only supported by end-users,” Lai added.  There are investors from the mainland and overseas as well, creating demand for Hong Kong property.”