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(Yicai Global) Dec. 27 -- Hong Kong's thriving property market has pushed up the region's land sales revenue to a record-high of almost HKD130 billion (USD16.6 billion) this year, local news outlet Ta Kung Pao reported yesterday.
The number of land plots sold hit a seven-year low of 16 as of Dec. 22, but revenue to that date was up more than 50 percent from last year's record-setting HKD84 billion.
Fierce competition between developers and the local government offering several valuable urban plots were the main reason behind the soaring transaction prices. The special administrative region sold commercial plots in the Central district this year for the first time in two decades.
The four largest transactions, the only ones above HKD10 billion, amassed a total HKD82 billion, including two commercial and two residential plots.
Five developers, including Shimao Property Holdings Ltd., acquired the Cheung Sha Wan land plot for HKD17.3 billion last month, setting a new high for residential land purchases in Hong Kong. The region's leading developer, Henderson Land Development Co., paid HKD23.3 billion for the Murray Road parking lot in Central district in May, setting records for transaction price and price per square foot, but lost the first of those when Nan Fung Development Ltd. paid HKD24.6 billion for a commercial plot in the Kai Tak area just weeks later.