Raymond Wang

Centraline Surveyors predict a shortfall of new flats in Hong Kong over the next few years. This will continue despite two plots of prime government land to be auctioned soon, with a potential of 3,400 flats in 2007. The real estate agency expects supply to dwindle to 24,833 homes - about 11.3 per cent below the average annual take-up of 28,000.

Demand has continued despite the SARS outbreaks last year

"Apart from those larger sites, the government should put smaller sites on the application list to meet demand from small and medium-sized developers," Centaline Surveyors senior manager Chris Chau said.

The supply estimate for 2007 includes new homes to be built from land conversions, government auctions, tenders from railway operators MTR Corp and Kowloon-Canton Railway Corp, and Urban Renewal Authority projects. Under the application list programme, developers can trigger an auction by submitting a bid that must match or exceed an undisclosed minimum price set by the government.

On Tuesday, the government said it will add another site worth at least HK$3 billion to next month land auction after announcing on Monday that a former police quarters site would be auctioned at a minimum price of HK$5.02 billion on October 12 - the third auction this year and the largest by value since 1997.

Centaline said the two sites, which are expected to draw fierce bidding from major developers, could fetch HK$10 billion. "The auction is expected to attract major developers while mid-sized developers will probably take part in the bidding through joint ventures," Midland Surveyors director Ronald Cheung said.

New World Development chairman Cheng Yu-tung said he believed developers were keen to bid for the Ho Man Tin site due to its prime location. "We are really interested in the site."

Some developers are already raising new flat prices amid the strong minimum auction bids.

Eric Chow, general manager of Sun Hung Kai Property Agency, a unit of Sun Hung Kai Properties, said the company will raise the prices of 330 apartments at three new projects by 5-8 per cent later this month.

He said prices for another 250 flats at the company four joint-venture projects will also be raised.

Centaline Surveyors said property developers are keen to replenish their land banks through land auctions to prepare for anticipated supply shortages in the next few years.

"As demand is set to exceed supply, the real-estate market will benefit from an expected shortage in the medium term," Centaline Surveyors managing director Victor Lai said.

He predicts that the impending shortfall will help drive property prices 10-15 per cent higher next year.

10 September 2004 / 02:16 AM

Chinese surveyors to map uncharted west

Chinese surveyors are about to concentrate on the country huge western part and risk their lives to create more detailed maps of the largely uncharted region, state media said.

China does not know exactly what the terrain looks like in an area of more than two million square kilometres, including 70 percent of Tibet, Xinhua news agency said. The are untapped resources that are restricted by the lack of information about how to get around and where to look and is the major obstacle to economic development, according to the agency. This must be completed by ground methods as Aerial photograpy is not reliable due to the severe weather and high altitudes.

"The inadequacy of geographical information has greatly hampered China efforts in developing its western region," said Zhang Jixian, acting president of the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping.

What China needs is maps on a 1:50,000 scale, where two centimetres correspond to one kilometre in real life, according to Xinhua.

Recent history shows this is highly dangerous, as a total of 42 surveyors were killed in the early 1970s trying to map the Tibetan plateau on a 1:100,000 scale, according to Xinhua.

The Daily Times, Voice for a new Pakistan 10th. Sept 2004.

Mainland surveying sector taps HK

The Standard 8th. September 2004,Danny Chung

The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors and the China Engineering Cost Association will sign an accord next month giving formal recognition the each other qualification. The agreement will improve the prospects of those among Hong Kong 1,500 qualified quantity surveyors who want to work on the mainland.

Cheung Tat-tong, senior vice- president of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, said the first exams would be held by the end of the year. But Hong Kong surveyors may not find it plain sailing as there were many competitors from the mainland who know the market, Cheung said. He added that about half of the turnover of local quantity surveying firms was generated in China. Many quantity surveying firms entered the mainland as part of a joint venture with a mainland partner, or set up representative offices, although they cannot sign contracts.

Cheung welcomed concessions under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (Cepa) which allowed Hong Kong consultants to form wholly-owned enterprises. But Cepa does not exempt Hong Kong firms from complying with mainland business licensing requirements. These include the high level of capital required, which for large firms could top 1 million yuan (HK$942,800), and a requirement to hire a minimum number of local staff. There were also nationality issues.

Cheung said there were other difficulties for work on the mainland, relating to the concept of quantity surveying being poorly understood. Although the mainland has recently decided to adopt the British approach to quantity surveying after studying various processes around the world, there are still no university courses in quality surveying to build up a professional base. whereas in Hong Kong quantity surveyors handle most of the Feasibility studies, estimates, tendering, cost control, contract administration and accounts on the mainland they are split among various departments.For example, mainland cost engineers carry out estimates, while the final accounting is done by the bank providing the financing.

Research showed each mainland province and city had its own list of basic prices, while Hong Kong surveyors used a composite rate for each element of work, including the cost of materials, labour, plant, overheads, risk and profit.``We understood [the mainland system] but we still wanted a composite rate," Cheung said. Other issues included a lack of tendering and contract law and fragmented control of projects.

UPDATE: HK Govt To Hold Second Kowloon Land Sale In Oct

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)—Tuesday September 7, 8:47 PM

Hong Kong biggest land auction since handover in 1997 has been proposed when Hong Kong government announced that it would hold a second land sale after receiving a guaranteed minimum bid of HK$3 billion from an unidentified buyer.

The sale to be held on Oct 20th, includes a 12,700-square-meter site in San Po Kong, a largely industrial area in central Kowloon. This will be in addition to the 17,756-square-meter site in Kowloon upmarket residential area of Ho Man Tin also to be auctioned in October when the government received a minimum bid of HK$5.02 billion. A guaranteed minimum bid acts as the starting price for bids at the auctions, where both land sales could attract significant premiums over these floor prices.

James Cheung, associate director at Centaline Surveyors Ltd., has estimated that the Ho Man Tin site may go for HK$6.875 billion and the San Po Kong site for HK$3.9 billion.

Although the bidders have been officially identified, the blue-chip property developer Henderson Land Development Co. (0012.HK) is known to have had talks with the government over the San Po Kong site.

Ronald Cheung, a director at Midland Surveyors Ltd., said the projects may be too large for a single bidder, even for a property heavyweight. "It is highly likely that several property firms will join hands to bid for the projects," he said. "That is probably the reason why the identity of the developer is not revealed yet as they may be in talks for forming a joint venture."

Eva Lee, an analyst at Macquarie Research says that "When all the big developers are buying, one can tell the property market is in good shape," But while the luxury residential property prices have rebounded strongly, the commercial property prices has remain weak and that upturn, however, has not benefited the broader market.

HK Sino Land Wins Sham Shui Po Urban Redevelopment Proj

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)-Thursday September 9, 5:21 PM

Kowloon old urban center has been sold by the Hong Kong Urban Renewal Authority to real estate developer Sino Land Co. (0083.HK). The redevelopment site encompasses 14,900-square-meter at Sham Shui Po. A spokesman for the company declined to disclose the total investment needed for the project, but estimates of the development have reached about HK$500 million.

The project will provide 204 residential apartments with total gross floor area of about 111,700 square feet upon completion in 2008.