A 7,353 square meter luxury residential site at the Peak in Hong Kong fetched 1.8 billion HK dollars (about 231 million U.S. dollars) during a public land auction Tuesday, setting a new record price per square foot for land in the city.

The final price for the 79,148 square foot site is equivalent to an accommodation value of 42,196 HK dollars (about 5,400 U.S. dollars) per square foot, scratching the previous record of a land site at South Bay Road near the luxury residences-rallied Repulse Bay in 1997.

The site at 12 Mount Kellett Road has an allowable total gross floor area of 42,658 square feet and could accommodate six to eight townhouses and already holds the highest reserve price on a per-square-foot basis among the sites triggered for auction since the government introduced its application list system

Under the system, a developer must submit a price that is at least 80 percent of the government's reserve price for a site to be triggered for sale.

Last month private developer Manhattan Garments (International) controlled by Liberal Party chairman James Tien Pei-chun triggered the site for auction after the government agreed to its bid of 768 million HK dollars (98 million U.S. dollars) or 18,000 HK dollars per square foot.

The price also surpassed the expectation of many real estate agents, who anticipated the price to stand between 1 billion HK dollars (128 million U.S. dollars) to 1.5 billion HK dollars (192 million U.S. dollars).

The auction lasted only for half an hour as the fight between developers for the land was intense.

About 10 major developers in Hong Kong made their keen bids during the auction and elevated the offer to more than 1 billion HK dollars two minutes after the auction started.

The focus of auction was on the No. 22 and No. 29 bidders when the auction entered its final stage.

After 59 offers by developers during auction, the No. 22 bidder, who represented New World Development Company Limited, beat No. 29 bidder, who represented Nan Fung Group, and won the rare land site at the peak.

The Nan Fung Group bidder tried to make his final trial almost at the same time when auctioneer hammered the final price at 1.8 billion HK dollars.

"It is too late," the auctioneer told the bidder.

Source: Xinhua