* H2 underlying net HK$7.37 bln vs avg forecast HK$7.55 bln
* SHK says expects satisfactory results for 2010/11
* Stock up 5 pct this year, beating HSI's 0.5 pct loss (Adds details, quotes)
By Joy Leung and Alison Leung
HONG KONG, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd, Asia's largest developer by market value, on Monday posted a forecast-lagging 6.5 percent fall in its January-June underlying profit on lower revenue due to a high comparison base a year earlier.
Sun Hung Kai expected satisfactory results for the coming financial year, with the positive impact of the company's development projects, it said in a statement.
"New projects will be put on the market as planned," Chairman Kwong Siu-hing said in the statement.
Major residential projects in Hong Kong to go on sale in the next nine months include the luxury Valais town houses at Beas River and Park Season on Castle Peak Road.
It aims to sell HK$26 billion worth of flats in financial year 2010/11 compared with HK$23 billion a year earlier, Victor Lui, executive director of Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency, told reporters.
Housing prices have risen by about 45 percent in the city since the beginning of last year to records because of low interest rates, increased purchases by rich mainland Chinese and Asia's strong economic growth.
That helped fuel underlying profit at Sun Hung Kai, the developer of Hong Kong's iconic International Finance Center, to HK$7.37 billion for the January-June period, slightly below a profit of HK$7.88 billion a year earlier when profit from its Cullinan luxury residential project was booked.
The average estimate of nine analysts polled by Reuters had forecast an underlying profit of HK$7.55 billion.
NO EXCITEMENT
"Its earnings were unexciting and more or less in line with market expectations," said Linus Yip, strategist at First Shanghai Securities. "We are more concerned about whether or not the developer will speed up new sales, and what's next from the government to curb accelerating property prices."
Sharp rises in housing prices in Hong Kong, a trend also seen in China, Singapore and other Asian cities, has prompted the government to roll out damping measures this year, including lowering the mortgage loan ceiling for apartments priced at HK$12 million and above.
However, recent land auction prices indicate the territory's property sector may remain frothy.
Sun Hung Kai, which derives more than 90 percent of its profit from property sales and rental income, reported a full-year net profit of HK$28.04 billion versus HK$10.36 billion a year earlier on revaluation gains from its investment properties.
Underlying profit totalled HK$13.88 billion for the year ended June, up from HK$12.42 billion a year earlier and compared with a forecast of HK$14.05 billion.
Shares of the developer, which competes with Cheung Kong in Hong Kong, have risen about 4.9 percent since the beginning of this year, outperforming the Hang Seng index's about 0.48 percent gain. (See www.reutersrealestate.com for Reuters' global service for real estate professionals) (Editing by Chris Lewis)