Amidst the hype brought about by the encouraging response to the Leighton Hill luxury residential offering, and on speculation that last Thursday’s Government land auction would also see higher prices, Cheung Kong [1] coolly declared that it had applied to the Government for the auction/tender of two prime sites from the land reserve list. The message seemed quite clear: there is an abundant supply of land for all developers and there is no need to bid up prices. After all, nobody, including the Government, wishes to see the property market replicate its vicious circular movements of the early- to mid-1990s, where high land prices led to high sales prices. 
Moreover, most developers and property agents are in the habit of talking up the market – a practice that can be misleading at times to the general public. A market that is free from misleading price movement predictions is an efficient market to operate in. As one of Hong Kong’s largest developers, Cheung Kong, has set an example by refraining from making predictions as to where property prices are headed.
