HONG KONG, Sept. 15(Xinhuanet)-- Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, chairman and chief executive of Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited, Hong Kong's major property developer, said here Thursday that Hong Kong residential market is expected to remain promising.

Announcing the company's annual results, Kwok said, "Income growth, low mortgage interest rates, affordable housing prices and a rise in marriages should continue to bolster the demand for residential property."

"A decline in the supply of new units in the next few years is likely to support the rising trend in housing prices that started in the middle of 2003," he added.

Kwok expected that the price of the mass housing sector will increase 10 percent in the coming year.

According to Kwok, the net profit of the company for the year that ended on June 30, 2005, was 10,371 million Hong Kong dollars (1,329.62 million US dollars), an increase of 50 percent compared with last year's profit. Enditem