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Last year saw the most flats completed  in Hong Kong in four years, reversing a downward trend in private housing supply over the past seven years. 
Transport and Housing Bureau statistics show that about 13,400 flats were completed in 2010 - 86 per cent more than a year ago. 
In 2009, only 7,200 new flats were completed, the least since records began  in 1997. 
'The strong rebound in new housing supply was due to the government's measures to increase land supply in the last few years,' said Wong Leung-sing, an associate director of research at Centaline Property Agency. The firm expects completions of flats to fall to 11,000 this year. 
Still, Wong said: 'More development sites have started construction. New housing supply won't fall in the next few years.'  
Construction began on 13,400 flats last year, 63 per cent more than in 2009 and the most housing starts in three years.
'From 2003 to 2007, construction work began on 14,660 flats on average every year. So the figure has returned to the normal level,' Wong said. 
Midland Realty chief analyst Buggle Lau Ka-fai expects work to start on about 13,000 flats this year, similar to the number last year. 
'Developers have been aggressively acquiring land in the last two years. They have acquired sites with room to build nearly 20,000 flats,' Lau said.
Completions of new flats would increase significantly in three to four years, he said. 
New projects saw strong sales last year. There were only about 7,000 completed flats left unsold by the end of last year, 17 per cent less than a year earlier and the lowest total since 1997. 
Including unsold flats in completed projects and those under construction, 49,000 flats were available for sale at the end of last month. That was a drop of 3.9 per cent from the 51,000 flats available in the third quarter of last year. 
The overall figures for 2010 mask a big drop in flat completions in the fourth quarter - down 44 per cent from the final three months of 2009 and in housing starts, which were down 67 per cent year on year. Still, Lau believes neither factor will prevent an upswing in new-home supply. 'The long-term supply of new housing will not drop unless the figures continue to fall for three consecutive  quarters,' he said.
With the government continuing to release more sites for development, he believes its target for new-home provision of 20,000 flats a year will be achieved soon.
Because of strong demand, prices continue to go up even as supply is increasing. The prices of flats on the secondary market rose  0.11 per cent  last week, according to Centaline's Centa-City Leading Mass (CCL Mass) property index. It was the second consecutive week the index had hit a new post-1997 high. The index reflects the average sale prices on 73  large housing estates.
It shows home prices have reached about 87 per cent of their 1997 peak. 
It also shows property prices have rebounded 3.37 per cent from their lowest point in December after the government introduced additional stamp duty on quick property resales to reduce speculation. 
The property market in the New Territories, where prices are the lowest, has also recovered, with average prices hitting their highest level in 13 years.



2010 upsurge in completed flats ends seven-year decline