Analysis: New flat sites go only small way to solving Hong Kong housing problems

The government moved closer towards fulfilling its promise to provide land for 20,000 private flats a year with its announcement that six more sites would be put up for sale before the end of this financial year.

But uncertainty about future land reserves, including railway sites for property developments, has cast doubt on the pledge in the long run.

The announcement on Monday by Secretary for Development Paul Chan Mo-po seemed timed to appear as a Christmas gift to Hongkongers yearning for affordable flats.

The six sites - two at Kai Tak and one each in Tseung Kwan O, Ho Man Tin, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun - are expected to be released in the fourth quarter of this financial year and eventually provide about 3,000 flats. This is up 70 per cent compared with the 1,760 flats from land released in the third quarter.

"[It] shows the government's determination to increase the provision of land for housing," Chan said.

The pledge of land for 20,000 flats a year over the next 10 years was made by former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen in his 2010 policy address.