HONG KONG: The scarcity of land in Hong Kong will quicken the pace of expansion by developers on the mainland this year, say analysts, with medium-sized firms especially aggressive buying property.

Hong Kong property developers spent more than 15 billion yuan buying 4.5 million square feet of land across the border last year. Expanding land holdings on the mainland will remain a key strategy, especially for the small- and medium-sized companies that are unable to compete with large players in the Hong Kong land auction.

"With low development costs, especially in the second-tier cities, we will see more and more developers scaling up their mainland businesses," said Patrick Yiu, an associate director of CASH Asset Management.

Stone Shi, analyst of Sun Hung Kai Financial Group, said medium-sized Hang Lung Group will outpace its peers on this mainland drive.

"Given the enormous sizes of giants like Cheung Kong and SHK, contribution to their business from the mainland is still limited in the short run," Shi said. "In contrast, Hang Lung has entered its harvest period, when its mainland revenue will account for a significant portion of the company's income."

Hang Lung Group, with a 15-year history in the mainland market, earned HK$555.1 million from its Shanghai properties in the financial year ending on June 30, 2006, about 12.7 percent of the group's total profit.

Terry Ng, executive director of Hang Lung Development, said that Hong Kong land prices are simply too high for it to buy more.

A recent mainland purchase by Hang Lung is a 685 million yuan mixed-use parcel for commercial and hotel projects.

Hang Lung's Chairman Ronnie Chan earlier said the company will invest HK$30 billion in 12 property projects in eight to nine mainland cities. He disclosed the group will prefer rental projects such as hotels and offices since residential projects are subject to the revenue and value-added taxes.

Nan Fung Group and Kowloon Development respectively spent 742 million and 3.5 billion yuan to purchase a commercial land in Guangzhou and a 90 percent stake in a commercial project in Tianjin.

But some large property companies are no less eager to buy on the mainland.

"Hong Kong is short of land. We have no choice but speed up our expansion on the mainland," said Henderson Land chairman Lee Shau-kee.

Sung Hung Kai Properties, a relatively small player on the mainland market, seems to be determined to gain ground. The company recently bought 2.4-million-square-foot parcel of prime commercial land in Shanghai for 3.6 billion yuan.