Ordinary Gweilo

Both the Standard and the SCMP report on the games played by Hong Kong property developers. 

From the SCMP (subscription required):

Cheung Kong (Holdings) executive director Justin Chiu Kwok-hung says prices for mid-end properties have peaked for the next six months, after the developer slashed prices on some high-floor units in its latest Tseung Kwan O project.

Other developers branded the recent price cuts as "bogus", and a strategy to talk down the market before next week’s government land auction.

[..]

It is not the first time Mr Chiu has expressed pessimism about prices. In October last year, a day before the auction of the former quarters for married police officers in Ho Man Tin, he said the site was unlikely to fetch the $7 billion analysts and surveyors had been predicting. "If the site is sold for more than $7 billion, it will be difficult for developers to justify the cost," he said.

The developer then paid $9.42 billion for the 191,126 sq ft site.

Clearly a case of actions speaking louder than words. More from the Standard:

It is a common practice for Hong Kong developers to announce aggressive price expectations for new developments before official launches. The final price tags are often below the asking prices, which are seen as a test of the market.

Cheung Kong (Holdings) has lowered by more than 10 percent the aggressive prices it set last week for high-floor apartments at its Metro Town project in Tseung Kwan O after the units received a lukewarm response from buyers.

So they are trying to fool buyers into thinking that the new "reduced" prices are reasonable, and other developers into bidding lower for new sites.  Hmmm….