HONG KONG: The city's home prices may sustain recent gains on ample liquidity and low interest rates, said an executive director of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd, the builder owned by Asia's second-richest man, Li Ka-shing.

"We don't really see any negative factors in the property market in the next few months, so it should be sustainable," Justin Chiu said in an interview in Hong Kong yesterday. He said that investors are buying property "instead of putting money in the bank and getting zero interest income."

Hong Kong home prices have risen 23 percent this year, erasing losses posted after last year's demise of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, fueled by record low mortgage rates, near-zero interest rates on savings deposits and buyers from the mainland, residential values are at the highest in more than a year.

The Centa-City Leading Index Home Prices, a weekly weighted measure developed by Centaline Property Agency Ltd and the City University of Hong Kong, rose to 70.7 on August 30, the highest in more than a year, from 57.5 on January 4.

Cheung Kong, the world's second-biggest builder by market value, may sell HK$20 billion ($2.58 billion) of homes in Hong Kong this year, down from HK$28 billion last year, Chiu told reporters in the city today. The company hasn't yet set a sales target for 2010, he said.

Meeting this year's sales forecast depends on the market response to the Celestial Heights project and on government approval to sell apartments at the Tai Wai commuter rail station in the Sha Tin district north of the city center, Chiu said.

The Hong Kong-based builder has sold more than 3,000 units worth a total of HK$12 billion this year, the most of any developer in the city, the company said yesterday. Cheung Kong's mainland sales may reach 1.5 billion yuan ($220 million) in 2009, Chiu said.

Cheung Kong shares closed up 1.7 percent to HK$95.7 in Hong Kong.

Bloomberg News

(HK Edition 09/09/2009 page4)