Hong Kong's K Wah wins residential site for HK$5.87b

[HONG KONG] Casino tycoon Lui Che Woo-controlled K Wah International Holdings Ltd will pay HK$5.87 billion (S$1.098 billion) for a residential site in Hong Kong, a price at the high end of market expectation.

The transaction for the 9,700-square metre site with a maximum gross floor area of 53,350 sq metres at Kai Tak in eastern Kowloon, comes as the city steps up efforts to contain prices in one of the world's most expensive property markets.

A unit of K Wah, Century Basis Ltd, beat 15 mainland and Hong Kong developers, including China Overseas Land, Vanke Property, China Resources Land, Sun Hung Kai Properties, New World, and Cheung Kong, to clinch the deal, the government said in a statement.

Four surveyors interviewed by Reuters had estimated a price of HK$4.6 billion to HK$5.8 billion for the deal.

Last month, a unit of China's HNA Group won a tender for a plot of residential land in Hong Kong at almost double market forecasts.

Hong Kong had in November raised stamp duties on property transactions for the first time in three years, in its latest effort to check an overheated property market buoyed by capital inflows from China.

REUTERS