http://www.straitstimes.com/business...ices-edging-up

Li Ka Shing sees HK property prices edging up

Jan 7, 2017


HONG KONG • Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka Shing expects property prices in the city will rise "a little bit" this year, even as the government takes steps to cool the world's costliest real estate market.

The government last November increased the stamp duty to 15 per cent for all residential purchases, excluding first-time buyers who are permanent residents. The curbs initially sent developer stocks tumbling - including shares of Mr Li's Cheung Kong Property Holdings - as investors assessed the effect the new rules would have on turnover and value.

CK Property shares have gone down about 15 per cent since the tax was increased. Yet private housing prices last November surged to the highest since data was first made available in 1979, the city's rating and valuation department said on Dec 30. The Centaline gauge of secondary home prices rose to 146.3 in the week through Dec 25, just shy of the record 146.92 set in September 2015.

Mr Li expects the real estate market still has room to increase.

"I believe it will rise a little bit, but it won't be outrageous," he said, speaking to reporters Thursday before the start of the annual dinner for his group of companies.

China Overseas Land and Investment on Thursday offered its latest apartments in the former Kai Tak airport area with average prices 20 per cent higher than those it sold last August, according to a South China Morning Post report.

The price hike comes after HNA Group's unit made record bids for land sites in the area by spending a total of US$1.8 billion (S$2.58 billion) in the last two months.

Mr Li said he sees CK Property's recurring income increasing 50 per cent in the next two to three years, although he is not too optimistic about the economy this year.

"It won't be an easy market amid rising interest rates and political tensions, but I personally still have confidence," he said.

The real estate developer said profit before investment property revaluation for the six months ended June 30 was HK$8.3 billion (S$1.54 billion), from HK$5.54 billion a year earlier.

Mr Li, 88, arrived in Hong Kong from war-ravaged China in 1940 and started his fortune making plastic flowers to export to the West. His business has grown beyond the former British colony, spanning from property to supermarket chain and telecoms.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index values his wealth at US$29.4 billion.

BLOOMBERG