Mainland firms expand property footprint in Hong Kong

They make up 29% of land sold in the past year.

According to Reuters, mainland Chinese companies have piled into Hong Kong property in 2015-2016, outbidding some of the territory's most powerful developers to gobble up 29 percent of land sold for development in one of the world's most expensive real estate markets, according to new industry figures.

That is almost a six-fold increase from their purchases of just 5 percent of the land sold in public land auctions in the years 2013 and 2014, the data from real estate broker Midland Realty shows.

The buying frenzy comes at a time when home prices in Hong Kong have reached new record highs, bucking government cooling measures, and potentially fueling discontent in a city whose population is already under strain from high living costs and a widening wealth gap.

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