Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Sun Hung Kai Properties FY 2022 interim result analyst briefing. As in the past, I'll give you an overview of the results and the performance of the business segments, followed by a Q&A session with our senior management. To begin with, I'll go through the financial highlights. Please note that all figures are in Hong Kong dollars, unless stated otherwise. For the six months ended 31 December 2021, the group's underlying profits amounted to HKD 14.8 billion, representing a decrease of 15% year-on-year. The decrease in underlying profit is mainly due to lower property development profit, as we have relatively lower sales completions of residential projects in both Hong Kong and on the mainland when comparing to the same period last year.
On the other hand, the reported profits increased by around 12% year-on-year to roughly HKD 15.2 billion after taking into account the revaluation gain of HKD 872 million, which was mainly driven by the Group's mainland portfolio. The underlying earnings per share was down 15% to HKD 5.11, while reported earnings per share rose 12% to HKD 5.24. On dividend, the Board of Directors has declared an interim dividend of HKD 1.25 per share, the same as last year. This slide shows the track record of our dividend per share since FY 2014. Let's talk about the profits breakdown by segment. The Group's property development profit dropped by 38% to around HKD 7.7 billion.
As mentioned, it was due to lower sales completions of residential projects in Hong Kong and on the mainland. On rental business, the group's net rental income increased by 2% to around HKD 9.7 billion. The increase was mainly attributed to robust rental growth of mainland portfolio, which was more than enough to offset the decline in rental income from Hong Kong portfolio. Net rental income from mainland portfolio increased by 20% year-on-year in Hong Kong dollar terms, or 14% in RMB terms. On the other hand, net rental income in Hong Kong declined 3% year-on-year. With the absence of inbound tourists, the group's hotel business in Hong Kong continued to be negatively affected, resulting in operating loss of HKD 162 million. However, the loss has narrowed comparing with last corresponding period.
Profit from other business decreased by 8%, mainly due to the absence of government subsidies in this reporting period. For the period under review, the total operating profit was down 19% to about HKD 19.5 billion. For financial position, the group maintains strong balance sheets with healthy level of net gearing ratio of 17.5% and interest coverage of 13 x. Net book value per share rose to around HKD 207. With strong financial position, the group continued to attain A1 and A+ credit ratings from Moody's and S&P respectively, both with stable outlook. We shall continue to stick to the prudent financial management discipline. For the performance of business segment, let's start with the property business in Hong Kong.
As at the end of December 2021, the group's total land bank in Hong Kong amounted to 57.8 million sq ft of our available GFA, which includes 34.2 million sq ft of completed properties and 23.6 million sq ft of properties under development. For the completed properties, shopping malls accounted for 35% of the total, while offices accounted for 30%. Among properties under development, the majority is for residential use, representing 74% of the total. During the period under review, the group completed lease modification procedures to increase about 1 million sq ft of GFA for the large-scale residential project at Sai Sha. This project initially was converted from farmland, with a total GFA of 4.8 million sq ft in FY 2018.
After the lease modification, the total GFA has increased to 5.8 million sq ft. The project is expected to become the most sizable new residential community in the next decade, featuring green and wellness concepts. We will continue to increase our land bank through multiple sources, including farmland conversion. Moving on to the property development business in Hong Kong. For the period under review, the group recognized around HKD 17 billion property sales in Hong Kong, down around 27.5%, and the development profit decreased by 33% to HKD 7 billion, primarily due to relatively less completions of residential developments during the period, while development margins remained satisfactory. As at the end of December 2021, about HKD 28.6 billion of contract sales were yet to be recognized.
During the period, we achieved contract sales of HKD 20.6 billion in Hong Kong, mainly from Wetland Seasons Bay phase I and II, which are next to the Hong Kong Wetland Park. From July up to the mid of February, we have achieved contract sales of HKD 22.7 billion. As shown in this map, we plan to launch 6 new projects in the rest of the year, spanning across different regions in the city, and including two large-scale residential developments, namely the Siu Hong Project phase I and the Pak Shek Kok project. The 6 new projects will offer over 4,300 residential units with a total attributable GFA of around 2.3 million sq ft. In addition to new launches, we shall continue to sell inventories and other remaining units of previously launched projects.
Now, let's move on to the performance of our Hong Kong rental portfolio. The group's diversified rental portfolio in Hong Kong continues to maintain healthy occupancy, with overall average occupancy of about 91%, and deliver gross rental income of HKD 8.9 billion, which was up 3% year-on-year. During the period under review, the performance of the group's retail portfolio continued to improve, with increasing leasing activities while social distancing measures were further relaxed. As a result, the decline in retail rental income narrowed to 4% versus 13% decrease in the corresponding period last year. For office portfolio, the gross rental income dropped by 4% to HKD 3.2 billion.
During the period under review, the group's local focused malls saw their footfall resume almost to pre-pandemic levels, while the performance of the tourist focused mall remained under pressure due to lack of tourists. Overall occupancy of the portfolio has remained steady. Given the recent Omicron outbreak and a much more stringent social distancing measures, the near-term operating environment for the group's shopping mall business has become increasingly tough. We have been proactively maintaining frequent communication with tenants and implementing timely and appropriate measures to sustain their businesses. To enhance shoppers' experience, the group has elevated the hygiene standards of the group's properties to ensure a safe and healthy environment for its customers, tenants, and employees to shop and work in. For example, we introduced 5G smart restrooms solutions to our shopping malls to help shoppers shorten queuing time and maintain the cleanliness of restrooms.
We also rolled out a number of initiatives to enhance customers' experience in our malls, including optimized tenant mix in accordance with the latest market trends, and carry out asset enhancement work to upgrade open space. Additionally, capitalizing on its online and offline platforms, the group has continued to team up with business partners and strengthen collaborations between its business arms. The Point by SHKP, a loyalty program for the group's mall, with 1.8 million members, has constantly introduced new initiatives to deliver a fresh shopping experience. The newly launched Point Dollar under the loyalty program, as a new payment means, allows its members to earn points with spending at our malls and business arms, convert them into Point Dollar, and spend it at over 1,200 participating retailers. After the retail portfolio, let's turn to the performance of our office portfolio.
During the period under review, Hong Kong IFC offices were virtually fully let, while occupancy of Hong Kong ICC remains satisfactory. The Millennity office cluster managed to maintain a healthy occupancy amid keen competition in Kowloon East. One major new addition in the pipeline, the joint venture development at 98 Hoi Ming Street in Kowloon East is scheduled for completion in 2023. The project is designed to attain platinum ratings under LEED and WELL. The re-leasing of the twin Grade A office towers is progressing well. The retail podium of 500,000 sq ft scheduled for opening in 2024 will become a one-stop modern lifestyle mall. This retail podium, together with APM, will form a shopping hub of nearly 1.1 million sq ft for the area.
The large-scale projects atop the High Speed Rail West Kowloon Terminus will have a total GFA of 3.2 million sq ft, comprising about 2.6 million sq ft of premium Grade A office and some 600,000 sq ft of retail space. Designed to obtain platinum ratings from LEED, WELL, and BREEAM+ certifications, the commercial landmark will come with green and wellness elements, including open green space of some 100,000 sq ft and part of the 1.5 km long West Kowloon Parkway, linking old and new communities. With an extensive transport station network connecting to other parts of Hong Kong and mainland cities, the development will create synergy with the group's ICC and two 5-star hotels nearby, and expected to be a major business hub in Greater Bay Area. The basement work of this project is underway.
The group also has new commercial projects under development in Northern Metropolis. The additions include the extensions of YOHO Mall atop Yuen Long Station, the retail space of over 130,000 sq ft in Kwun Tong and office cum retail project adjacent to the MTR Tin Shui Wai station. All this will contribute to the developments of Northern Metropolis as a promising area to live, work, and shop. This concludes my discussions on the property business in Hong Kong. Now let me move on to our property business on the Mainland. As at the end of December 2021, the gross total land bank on the Mainland amounted to 71.1 million sq ft of attributable GFA, of which around 17.5 million sq ft was completed properties, and about 53.6 million sq ft was properties under development.
Next, let's move on to the property development business on the Mainland. During the period, the group recognized around HKD 1.5 billion property sales on the Mainland, down 58% year-on-year, mainly due to lower residential sales completions. Development profit dropped 67% to HKD 622 million with satisfactory development margins. As at the end of December 2021, around HKD 5.9 billion contract sales were yet to be recognized. During the year, we achieved RMB 2 billion attributable contract sales on the Mainland. The table here shows the breakdown of individual projects. The table in this slide shows the major new launches on the Mainland in the next 10 months, including Shanghai Arch Phase III, Park Royale Phase IIA in Guangzhou, residential units of both Hangzhou IFC and Guangzhou South Station ICC.
Moving on to the performance of our Mainland rental portfolio. During the period under review, the group's gross rental income from Mainland rental portfolio increased by 18% to HKD 3.4 billion or 12% in RMB terms, accounting for 27% of the group's total gross rental income. The growth was mainly driven by the continuous strong performance of our shopping malls, and the gross rental income of our retail portfolio grew 23% year-on-year to HKD 2.2 billion. Gross rental income of office portfolio increased by 7% to around HKD 992 million for the same period. The group's premium malls in Shanghai delivered solid performance with high occupancy during the period. In particular, the Shanghai IFC Mall in Pudong continued to record healthy growth in tenant sales from high base.
The performance of the group's shopping malls in other major cities remains satisfactory despite the impact of the pandemic in some districts. For the group's office portfolio, the Grade A office portfolio in Shanghai recorded high occupancy amid keen competitions. Both Shanghai IFC and Shanghai ICC have attained LEED Platinum certifications. Nanjing One IFC registered its committed occupancy of about 85%, while occupancy of Nanjing Two IFC continued to ramp up despite a challenging leasing environment and pandemic-related disruptions. In Shanghai, constructions of the remaining phase of Mega ITC is progressing as planned. Its 220-meter office tower is scheduled for completions in mid-2022 and received enthusiastic pre-commitments.
The other portions of the phase, including a 370-meter office tower, a mega mall of about 2.5 million sq ft, and the Andaz Shanghai ITC Hotels will be completed in phases from 2023 onwards. Both the office towers are designed to obtain LEED Platinum certification. In Nanjing, the Nanjing IFC mall will feature an assortment of top retail brands and popular restaurants, and is scheduled to open in phases from mid-2022 onwards. We continue to expand our Mainland property investment portfolio. By end of FY 2024, we expect the size of our Mainland property investment portfolio will increase from current 15 million sq ft to over 26 million sq ft. Major completions include Nanjing IFC mall and Shanghai ITC remaining phase.
The portfolio size will be further expanded to over 29 million sq ft by end of FY 2026. Well, that's all for the Mainland rental business. Now I'll discuss the hotel business performance. During the period, the performance of the group's hotels in Hong Kong improved amid a well-contained local pandemic situation, particularly the Royal Hotels. The near-term operating environment is likely to be very challenging amid Omicron outbreak. On top of measures to raise operational efficiency in this challenging environment, the hotel management team continued to strengthen its marketing and sales channels to boost business. The Go Royal by SHKP loyalty program, which covers the group's 5 Royal Hotels and their 20 restaurants, will be launched to drive customer spending through a bonus points program. On the mainland, the overall performance of the group's hotels during the period were affected by the intermittent pandemic.
The next item we'd like to discuss is our efforts on ESG. On ESG front, we have been working on different initiatives, and these slides show you a quick overview of some key areas we are working on. In view of recent rapid wave of pandemic outbreak, the group has several key initiatives in place to support the Hong Kong government to contain the virus, as well as protect our stakeholders and the community. As shown in the table, the group has lent for free two pieces of land with a combined site area of 1.2 million sq ft to the government for building community isolation and treatment facilities, and will provide additional places at its offices and other premises as venues for community vaccination for the general public. We also plan to offer about 1,000 hotel rooms as community isolation facilities.
The group's another major ESG initiative is to proactively promote environmental protection and care for the underprivileged and elderly through Ma Wan Park. Since opening, Noah's Ark Hong Kong has collaborated with 1,400 charity groups to organize 10,000 plus live educations and public welfare activities for more than 680,000 people. This concludes the ESG section. For information on our environmental targets and the recent ESG performance, you may refer to appendix of this presentation. Now, let me talk about the market and business prospect. In Hong Kong, the near-term operating environment will be inevitably affected by the recent Omicron outbreak and more stringent social distancing measures. The activities in primary residential markets are likely to be slow in the short term, in particular, high-end segment.
However, the relatively low interest rates and solid end-user demand, coupled with the newly announced relaxation of mortgage financing, will support the market for small and medium-sized units. For retail sector, domestic consumption will be negatively affected in the short term. Near-term pressures on new leases and renewals will remain. However, the new round of consumption voucher announced yesterday will help boost domestic consumption later. On Grade A office market, weakening economic outlook may weigh on demand and rents in the short term. On the mainland, the dual circulation strategy and various supportive macro initiatives will continue to support a reasonable economic growth. For primary residential market, the latest loosening in mortgage financing will support reasonable housing demand. For the retail sector, domestic consumption growth is likely to remain healthy in a positive operating environment.
A lack of international travels will benefit the luxury market, with more brands willing to expand. On Grade A office, market momentum remains positive amid continuous economic growth. Particularly, quality office buildings at prime location with professional management services are likely to outperform. Turning to our business prospects. In the short term, the recent outbreak of Omicron is expected to bring additional challenge to the group's operations in Hong Kong. We have introduced extra preventive measures to raise the hygiene standards of our residential and commercial properties. With the latest round of consumption vouchers, we shall partner with tenants to launch promotional activities when the pandemic is contained. For property sales, leverage on its ample sellable resources, the group will continue to launch development project for sales once ready. However, schedule of new launches may be affected by the pandemic situation.
On the mainland, under the well-contained COVID-19 infections operating environment, the group's mainland retail rental portfolio is expected to perform well. In the medium to long term, the group has confidence about the prospects of the mainland and Hong Kong and will continue to invest in the country. We will continue to acquire land selectively in Hong Kong and major cities on the mainland when opportunities arise, while strictly observe the prudent financial discipline. The group will keep expanding its portfolio and strengthening its recurring income stream by developing new landmark projects. Several integrated projects will be fully completed in about 5-6 years' time, including the Mega ITC in Shanghai and Hangzhou IFC in Hangzhou. Finally, I would like to wrap up my presentation with a message extract from the chairman's statements as follows.
During the past half-century, the group has weathered through good and bad times alongside the people of Hong Kong. The group firmly believes that Hong Kong will continue with its success as the Pearl of Orient under one country, two systems, given its well-established common law system, world-class business standards and practices, comprehensive infrastructure, and hardworking and persevering people. The group reached an important milestone in 2022 as the year marks the fiftieth anniversary of its public listing in Hong Kong. As always, the Group will adhere to its commitment to Hong Kong while upholding its philosophy of building homes with heart. With this premium brand, customer-centric culture, seasoned management team, and strong financial position, the Group will continue its journey to success and scale new heights in the coming decades. This concludes my presentation. I look forward to meeting you all in person next time. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back for joining our Q&A session. Now, let me introduce the panel to you. From your left, Mr. Brian Sum, who you've just met. Mr. Christopher Kwok, Executive Director, who is joining us online. Sitting next to Brian is Mr. Allen Fung, Executive Director. Mr. Victor Lui, Deputy Managing Director. The center is Mr. Raymond Kwok, Chairman and Managing Director. Mr. Mike Wong, Deputy Managing Director. Mr. Adam Kwok, Executive Director. Mr. Eric Tong, Executive Director. Mr. Frederick Lie, Group Chief Accountant. Before we start, I would like to invite our Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Raymond Kwok, to share with us some key messages. Mr. Kwok, please.
Yes . Good. Good afternoon, welcome, and best wishes to you all for good health. During the period under review, the Group's overall business in Hong Kong continued to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, its shopping mall and hotel business improved when the pandemic eased in the H2 of 2021. The Group's mainland business was stable, and its rental portfolio, particularly the shopping mall business, recorded satisfactory performance. The Group continued to put up for sale its residential projects once they were ready. However, the pandemic and social distancing measures inevitably brought uncertainties to the issuance of government approvals for presales, as well as the timing of sales launches. The Group is pressing ahead with the development of our landmark projects, both in Hong Kong and on the mainland. The basement work of the large-scale development atop the high-speed rail West Kowloon Terminus is underway.
Guangzhou South Station ICC, a project in the core area adjacent to the Guangzhou South Railway Station, held its groundbreaking ceremony during the period. In Hangzhou, construction work of our integrated development, which has just been named as Hangzhou IFC, recorded good progress. The 220-meter tall office tower at ITC in Shanghai is scheduled for completion in the H1 of this year. These projects are set to boost the Group's recurrent income over the long term. During the period, overall occupancy of the Group's retail portfolio remained stable. In lieu of the worsening pandemic situation, the management team further raised the hygiene standards of the Group's properties, stepping up cleaning and disinfection to ensure a safe environment for our customers, tenants, and employees.
In response to changing market trends and operating environment, the Group's leasing teams will keep in close contact with shopping mall tenants to provide them with timely and appropriate support. The Group will also leverage the new round of consumption vouchers announced yesterday by the financial secretary, and roll out programs to boost spending and increase tenant sales. A number of initiatives will also be introduced to increase the competitiveness of the Group's shopping malls. These include optimizing tenant mix, adding green features, making the best use of indoor and outdoor open spaces, and adopting flexible marketing strategies. While developing its business, the Group proactively supports the national goal of achieving carbon neutrality and continuously enhances its ESG performances.
On top of obtaining prestigious green certificates for some of its major completed developments, the Group aims to get LEED certificates of gold or above ratings for all its major new buildings for investment purposes. With Hong Kong's worsening Omicron outbreak recently, Xi Jinping has expressed concern over the situation and given important instructions. The Group is grateful for the sincere care of the central government and will go all out to support the Hong Kong government to fight against the pandemic. As you may have read in the news, the Group has announced a very significant series of initiatives.
More importantly, we have lent for free two pieces of land with a combined total site area of 1.4 million sq ft for building isolation and treatment facilities to help meet the acute shortage of such facilities for newly infected COVID-19 patients. To help drive vaccination, especially among the elderly and children, we have allocated three venues for community vaccination centers, all located at office and shopping mall premises, easily accessible by MTR, including the APM in Kwun Tong, Landmark North in Sheung Shui, and Yoho Mall in Yuen Long. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong SAR, as well as the group's 50th anniversary of public listing in Hong Kong.
With full confidence in the future of the Mainland and Hong Kong, the group firmly believes that Hong Kong will continue to prosper under one country, two systems. Hong Kong has reached the historical turning point of transitioning from stability to prosperity. Under the national 14th Five-Year Plan, Hong Kong will further integrate into the national development and will strengthen its status as international hub of finance, asset management, wealth management, transportation, and trade. It is also set to be developed into international center for innovation and technology. 2022, however, will be challenging for a number of reasons, which include the drastic surge of coronavirus cases, more stringent social distancing measures, recent growing geopolitical tensions in certain regions, and major central banks' quantitative tapering amid rising inflation.
Yet, the relief measures and economic stimulus initiatives introduced in the budget announced yesterday by the financial secretary will give added impetus to the city's economic recovery. During the past 50 years, the group has weathered good and bad times together with the people of Hong Kong. The group will continue to adhere to its commitment to Hong Kong, fulfill its corporate social responsibility, and uphold its philosophy of building homes with heart. With a premium brand of quality buildings and services, a customer-centric culture, seasoned and proven management team, strong financial position, and continuous pursuit of innovation and excellence, the group is well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that will surely arise after the pandemic. The group will, together with Hong Kong, continue our journey of success and scale new heights. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Kwok. We will now open the floor for questions. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your phone keypad. Our first question comes from Ken Yeung with Citi.
Hi. Yes, this is Ken Yeung from Citi. I have two groups of questions. One is on Hong Kong residential, one is on Hong Kong office. On Hong Kong residential, given that there's a lot of moving factors like interest rate hike, Omicron outbreaks, slowdown in Chinese economy, how is management's view on the residential price and demand outlook for this year? How is your view, given that the sales have been slowing down recently, how is your view on your sales target, HK$45 billion? Will you be changing some of the sales target in lieu of slower sales? Lastly on the residential part, what will be the expected margin on your project going forward? This is on the residential.
The second part on the office is, what is the actual achieved reversion rate in the H1 this year, and what will be the outlook? Can you talk about the breakdown, the leasing performance breakdown by district? With regard to some of the new things, the MNC moving out their regional headquarters out of Hong Kong, are you seeing similar trends in your office portfolio, and what is your expectation on the office market outlook? Thank you.
Well, there are a lot of questions, but so I leave Victor to answer it, yeah.
Yes. First on the residential market. In fact, both the first-hand and second-hand market have been very robust in last year. The secondary transaction was a record high since 1997. For the primary sales, all our new projects, including Wetland Seasons Bay Phase I and II, Regency Bay, Kennedy 38, and recently YOHO Hub, they are all very well-received. Of course, the recent outbreak of Omicron did affect some of the new launches in the Q1 or maybe even in the Q2. With the recent increasing vaccine coverage, that we are hoping that there will be a possible border reopening and economic recovery. I think the residential sales will be active again in the H2 of this year.
Although the interest rate, the U.S. interest rate may rise, but with ample liquidity in Hong Kong, I think the low mortgage rate will continue to prevail and most investors should continue to enjoy a positive yield carry for most of their properties. We are still in the course of recovery, I think for the whole year the prices would record a mild increase for the whole year. In the upcoming months, we shall have a number of projects to be launched, namely those completed projects like Wetland Seasons Bay Phase III, Phase II of Victoria Harbour, and Prince Central in Ho Man Tin, followed by St.
Michel Phase II in Sha Tin, and also two mega projects, one in Pak Shek Kok and the other, Siu Hong Project in Tuen Mun. Together with those projects we have sold in the previous months, I think that can deliver a sizable liquidity of HKD 40 billion for us. However, due to the recent outbreak of Omicron and work from home measure of the government departments, I think some of the sales concern may slip a little bit. We are confident that we can make up, we can catch up again in the next quarter. As for the sales margin, I think you are aware that we can always market our projects by sticking to the prevailing market condition.
Generally, we are seeking for a quicker asset turnover for mass project like Wetland Seasons Bay and Wetland Seasons Park, and even the upcoming Siu Hong project. For luxury project, which are generally harder to replace, like Victoria Harbour, we shall offload our units by our pace. For the project I mentioned, I think that we have marketed in the previous month, I think they can deliver a good return for us. With our ample marketing resources, we are confident that the upcoming projects can also provide good margin for us in the next few years. On the office market, I think we are all aware that economic slowdown caused by the pandemic have weakened leasing demand in the past two years.
Some of the MNC are holding a wait and see approach on their U.S. planning. Those occupiers in the financial services, especially those with access to the IPO business, including some of the mainland companies, they are not affected and still in very good business. For One and Two IFC, they are still the most sought after address for a lot of international banks and leading financial institutions and wealth management sector is also to be benefited by the GBA Connect scheme. These company are all preferring to stay in Central. Together with the recent trend of decentralization, we have seen more activities in the CBD area.
For One and Two IFC, the space that expired in this year, we have already renewed 60% and 75% respectively already. As for our core locations, like Kowloon East, I think you're also aware that owners of some newer buildings are more flexible on rental negotiation. Our buildings in the Millennium City portfolio are not affected both on renewal and rental reversion, as most of our tenants are belonging to renowned users in different sectors, and they are very demanding on building quality and also appreciate our attentive services, including wellness, health, and safety. Including our other building in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay, they're all enjoying high occupancy and with a stable rental reversion.
In our portfolio, due to the temporary closure of border in our portfolio, we are not aware of MNC moving out of Hong Kong. In fact, as we know, the business have to cope with the government measures on the social distancing. We all know that this is only a short-term measure, with increasing vaccine coverage and economic recovery, that I think the office leasing market will recover in the H2 of this year. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Karl Leung with J.P. Morgan.
Hi, management. I have three questions. One is on the recent fifth wave impact to the shopping mall. I think what rental reversion are you seeing? A lso, have you started to offer some rental concessions to the tenants yet? H ow will you compare the rental concession to the government-proposed rental moratorium, i.e., for tenants to delay paying rental to the company? Second question is in terms of land banking in Hong Kong, have you noticed any acceleration of the farmland land premium negotiation process with the government? L astly, we also noticed that some of your peers are offering discounted housing to the general public. Would that be something that Sun Hung Kai will be considering?
Christopher, can you answer that first question, yeah?
Sure. Yeah, if I may do a quick recap, back in the H1 of the financial year of 2022, meaning June to December last year, our malls had a very good run. We benefited from the consumption voucher scheme, which allowed our malls to record strong double-digit sales growth. We were also ahead of the market throughout the period. Our sales have not yet reached back to the peak levels in 2018, but some of our malls, including our neighborhood malls, were very resilient, and they were very close to sales level in 2019, the pre-COVID levels.
With the new fifth wave of the COVID, it's obviously put pressure in the retail market, in terms of adding pressure to both sales and traffic. W e feel that with the strong support from the mainland, and the Hong Kong government and also the Hong Kong community who are all joining hands to fight the virus, we feel that the epidemic will gradually be put under control. Once that happens, we should see a rebound in the retail sales and traffic.
There's also the government also announced new economic stimulus in this budget, and we feel that the consumption voucher, which is actually twice the amount that was given out last time, should give the retail market a big boost once the social distancing measures are more relaxed. Throughout the pandemic, over the past two years, the group has introduced a wide range of measures to help businesses and our tenants to drive footfall and sales in the shopping malls. For example, in terms of setting up an online order and pickup platform for our F&B tenants, and also using our The Point loyalty program to partner with our tenants for more targeted promotion and discount campaigns. These flexible arrangements have proven to work well.
In this critical period, we will keep a very close eye on the situation, maintain close contact with our tenants and visit, and we will decide on the most appropriate arrangements to support our tenants. With regards to the rental enforcement moratorium mentioned in the budget, I think it's a separate issue from the rental concession because the moratorium basically says that we cannot force tenants who have outstanding rental liabilities to pay up, right? We have to let them ease off in this critical period. That does not necessarily mean the same thing as rental concession. Of course, we will work closely with our tenants, and we will also study the details of the proposed legislation and follow the law in that regard.
I can take up the rest of the questions. On the farmland conversion, as you appreciate or notice, before recent outbreak of fifth wave Omicron, we can see the overall modification, land modification process had been sped up because government has deployed special task force within the departments to process this land conversion process. You can appreciate for the past financial year of the government, both from land sale and modification has boosted up a lot. Very difficult cases has actually been completed during the last year. For us, it's very good that we have successfully up zoned our group's Sai Sha project and increased the GFA by 1 million sq ft so that we have completed the land premium payment during our financial year. Currently, we still have a few projects in the very final stage of conversion process.
However, during this time of difficult time, because of the work from home or the government resources, hard to tell the exact timeline how soon we can conclude these few cases. On the final question, it's interesting question actually. On the discount housing by private sector, we understand one of our piece of a proposal to government to find some discount housing, something like agency, like housing society. They have to do a land application at a concessionary land premium. This is a very fundamental policy for the government to make or to give concessionary or discounted land premium to enable the whole formula to work. As this is not an easy task for government to deal with, we will let the policymakers to deal with this application first.
On our part, we have been helpful to assist to produce housing both in our private market and more affordable housing to the community. Like the Land Sharing Scheme, we have actually submitted our application in Yuen Long. In that particular case, we're going to propose about 4,000 units, and out of which 2,600 are for public housing. On top of that, recently we have done a project, it's close to completion in the middle of the year, is the United Court in Yuen Long, Tung Shing Lei. In that particular case, the transitional housing will produce 1,800 units for the neediest in that area. In fact, San Kwong Wai has actually open up the application A process and welcome or to take up this particular affordable housing to the needy in the next quarter this year. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next one is from Karl Choi, Bank of America.
Hi. Thank you. I have three quick questions. First is, so I think China property sales were relatively slow in the H1. Just wondering whether you think you can catch up in the H2 to get to your full year target of HKD 7 billion. Second is, you know, there are a lot of distressed developers in China that are, you know, trying to sell assets. Just wondering whether you're having any discussions or your interest level, and if so, would you be more interested in residential or IP? Lastly, can you give us an update on the leasing progress of the Hoi Ming Street office project as well as ITC Tower in Shanghai that will be completed this year? Thanks.
Thanks for the question. I think for China, yes, you've noticed, our target is HKD 7 billion, and at this point, we're still remaining it. I think you noticed in the China market that recently, these 2 months, there's been a gradual easing in the monetary policy and also in the regulatory policies as well. You see a relaxation in mortgage financing, you see a relaxation in down payment, and you also see that, very critically, the developer's access to a restricted pre-sales fund. There seems to be a standardized and more relaxed rule to it. The way we are looking is, we are a little bit backloaded. We have a few major launches that's coming up in China in the next 4 or 5 months in this fiscal year.
That includes our Hangzhou residential sales in around May, June. That includes our continued sales in Foshan. That includes, we have already sold Chengdu ICC as well already, our residential towers and also our Zhuhai town and some sales in Dongguan and Zhongshan. We are keeping our target, and we think this recent relaxation is going to help us achieve that. On top of it, actually, you'll notice that the monetary environment is a gradual easing in credit as well as the lowering of standard borrowing rate. As to your question on mainland developers and the distressed assets, I think we are more interested in the assets in Hong Kong, to be honest.
Because if you look at the portfolio assets that's being floated around, is mostly not our strength and core competence. I would say not too much our cup of tea. Of course, there may be some occasional ones, but as you know, as always, we're sticking to a very selective approach where we want focus on integrated landmarks in top tier cities. So of course, if that comes along, we'll look at it, but for now we're more interested in the distressed assets in Hong Kong. I hope that answers your question.
And, uh-
Yes?
Thank you.
Yes. For the Hoi Ming Street project, initial response on the retail portion have been very positive, and as for the office portion, we have already committed a few whole floor users. There is also a financial institution of regulatory nature under negotiation. We are very confident of future take up here. Thank you.
For the interest of time, I would like to invite the final two questions. The next one is from John Lam with UBS.
Thank you. Thank you, management. I have two questions. The first question is, with all this challenge, external challenge that in place, the share price is at a low level. The company has a very strong balance sheet. How the management feels about the dividend policy and also any potential corporate action to support the share price. The second question here is that we have seen the China retail, the performance has been doing very strong in the H1 of the fiscal year. Just wondering how is the latest trends regarding on the recent months, because the overall economy in the mainland China has been slowing down. Thank you.
Christopher, can you answer the second question on the China retail, right?
Oh.
Yeah.
Sure. Yeah. Our retail performance in China, we've had a very strong one in the H1 of fiscal year 2022. In fact it's for Shanghai IFC Mall, we are more than 100% above our pre-COVID levels of sales. While we are at a high base, meaning that the growth will definitely be slower going forward. We are still seeing a strong positive growth, particularly in the luxury segment. In cities where we are present, we continue to see strong domestic consumption demand driven by the dual circulation strategies. So far our occupancy costs are very healthy at mid-teens%.
We also have a very strong portion of turnover rents in our rental income. That would give a very comfortable cushion for us to increase rents going forward. We'll continue to remain very positive about our rental reversion for this coming year in China. Maybe just as an aside, I think, having witnessed the rebound in the retail market in China as early as middle of 2019 and seeing the short but sweet period of growth in Hong Kong in Q3, Q4 last year, we feel that for Hong Kong, right, once the epidemic gets under control and we feel that the government is very serious and making quick decisions this time. Retail sales in Hong Kong should be back on track on a positive note once this fifth wave is under control. Yeah.
On the dividend, we have maintained our dividend of HKD 1.25, and this has been the interim dividend since fiscal year 2019. We'll try to maintain the same full year dividend of HKD 4.95 per share. Also, one other criterion is we try to fit into the payout ratio of between 40%-50% of the earnings, i.e. payout ratio would be between 40%-50%. Regarding that, we want to be conservative on the balance sheet. I think this is a good time for us to pick up some good properties at reasonable price. If there's adjustment on the land prices, then we'll be in a position to acquire good properties in the next 12 months. Thank you.
Thank you.
We will have the last questions from HSBC's Raymond Liu.
Thank you. Thanks for taking my question. This is Raymond. I've got two questions. The first question is about land banking opportunities in Hong Kong. As you mentioned, like, the land banking opportunities here seems to be more interesting now. Also there are some new developments like Metro, Metroplus, but also some concern about the population outflow, especially the mid, high and income class here. How do you see like the latest land banking opportunities here in Hong Kong in, let's say in the next 12 months time? Or will you be adjusting any like land banking purchase requirement because of the recent change in demand of supplies? The second question is about China rental portfolios.
Sorry, Raymond, can you repeat the first question again? Sorry. Ha-ha.
Sorry, my first question is about land banking opportunity Hong Kong.
Mm.
Because there are lots of like new dynamics on the supply and demand situations. Just want to have a better understanding, how do you see the latest like land banking opportunities, or will there be any adjustment for your land banking purchase requirements? These are the first questions. The second question is about China rental portfolios. We see that like the H1 rental growth in China has been strong. Can you share with us some more colors in like such a like the rental reversion in your office portfolios, especially Shanghai. Can you share with us some of the pre-leasing progress for your Shanghai ITC and the upcoming IFC in Nanjing? Thank you.
Our first question, I mean, Victor can answer it. The second question on Christopher, can you answer the second question?
Sure.
Eric Tong, can you answer a bit on the ITC only, right?
Land banking, I think, you are aware that we are always an active bidder on government tenders. Actually, in the past 2 weeks we have put in tenders on the URA To Kwa Wan project, the luxury project, luxury land in Island South and also the office project in the West Kowloon Cultural District. You can see that we are very active to participate in the government tender. Of course, we shall continue to participate actively in the coming government tenders and under our usual very prudent financial discipline. Of course, as you mentioned, the trend of interest rate will be also one of our consideration too. Thank you.
Yeah.
For the office leasing market in China, of course, competition is very keen with the big supply across all cities. I think so far performance of our office portfolio has been quite resilient with high occupancy. During the period we recorded a mild rental income growth across our portfolio. Occupancy level also remains high at around in the 90s. I mean, Eric Tong can comment on the ITC project, but in terms of our new projects, let's say for Nanjing IFC project, it's our first venture into the Nanjing office leasing market. So far our one IFC tower in Nanjing has already over 80% occupancy.
The IFC leasing progress is also doing well with some major TMT and financial institution tenants who are familiar with our brand we've built up in Shanghai and trust our quality of our product. With the opening of the shopping mall and the hotel later this year, we think we're quite positive about the Nanjing new project.
Yeah, for ITC project, it was divided into four sites. For site one and two, which we completed quite some time ago, but this basically enjoy near 100% occupancy. We are going to complete another office tower with 1 million sq ft by the middle of this year. The building actually is divided into four zones. Basically, we almost committed on the first two zones already. We will be getting the occupation permit before the May of this year. Then, the first tenant will move in on the first of July. First of June. Yeah.
As this is the final questions, our briefing session is coming to a close. Thank you very much for joining us today. We appreciate your time and are looking forward to speaking to you soon. Thank you.