Renewed interest comes as land banks in prime areas shrink
Developers are again looking at buying civil servants' co-operative housing estates as the property market rebounds and their land banks in prime urban areas diminish.
Faced with limited government sites for sale, developers are adopting the strategy they used in the mid-1990s to replenish land banks in prime urban areas.
Nicholas Brooke, chairman of Professional Property Services, said properties owned by civil servants' co-operative building societies were attracting developer interest because 'they are usually in good locations and are often underdeveloped sites'.
The government granted land for housing at concessionary rates to societies formed by civil servants during the 1950s and early '80s as a benefit for pensionable, non-expatriate staff.
According to the Civil Servants Bureau, 238 societies were formed in various districts, including prime areas such as Kowloon Tong, Jardine's Lookout and Tai Hang. They are also present in Sai Wan Ho and To Kwa Wan.
