Industrial site fetches record $5.6b

Data Zone Company has won the tender for an industrial site in Sha Tin for HK$5.6 billion, or HK$5,967 per buildable sq ft, a record for industrial land tenders.

Data Zone's director Gu Jian is also a director of China Mobile International, a subsidiary of state-owned telecom China Mobile (0941), according to the Companies Registry.

Sun Hung Kai Properties (0016) and CK Asset (1113) were among the eight other bidders.

Midland Surveyors previously valued the site at around HK$2.81 billion. The site covers a total of 98,791 sq ft and has a maximum gross floor area of 938,516 sq ft.

Meanwhile, MTR Corporation (0066) is seeking the green light from the Town Planning Board to raise the upper limit of the total number of residential units at Wong Chuk Hang Comprehensive Development Area by 300 to 5,200.

Separately, the one-month Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate fell to 0.39179 percent yesterday, a three-year low.

MReferral is offering a mortgage rate of Hibor plus 1.3 percent for Sea to Sky buyers, with an upper limit of prime rate minus 2.75 percent.

In the commercial property market, commercial real estate services firm CBRE expects rents for street shops at core districts to fall 20 to 25 percent this year and office rents to fall by 15 to 20 percent.

And in the luxury residential leasing market, local demand has become a more important driver over the second quarter as new mainland and expat demand has fallen heavily due to the cross-border restrictions, said Savills Hong Kong.

Savills also expects more expats to leave in the second half if cross-border restrictions are loosened, given the state of the global economy and the prospect of rising corporate insolvency.