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Leung Chun-ying has slowed home sales, not driven down prices. Photo: Nora Tam
Opinion
Public Eye
by Michael Chugani
Public Eye
by Michael Chugani

Time for Hong Kong government to take real action to cut home prices – if it has the guts

Leung Chun-ying came to power four years ago vowing to tackle issue, but so far his cooling measures have only slowed sales

Hong Kong homes will never be affordable. Not before, not now, not ever. Let’s beat that fact into our brains. Homes can never be affordable as long as our property sector remains a giant magnet for fleeing mainland money. The only time prices neared sanity for ordinary Hongkongers was during the Sars crisis. I didn’t buy. Big mistake.

But I had just returned after years in the US. The face masks, deserted shopping malls and daily death toll scared the hell out of me. I’ve been a slave to our Shylock landlords ever since. At every lease renewal I offer a pound of flesh. This is ritually met with a scornful laugh. Our landlords don’t just want a pound of flesh. They want the blood that comes with it too.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying came into office over four years ago with the promise of affordable housing. How long does it take to keep a promise? Sure, he has been trying hard. He inherited a mess from previous administrations which kowtowed to the tycoons who wanted to drive up prices by halting land sales and subsidised homes. But trying hard is cold comfort for Hongkongers horrified by the new phenomenon of 128 sq ft flats costing millions.

Mainland magnates desperate to dump their weakening yuan have been outbidding local tycoons at land sales. The devil we don’t know is ousting the devil we know. Many applaud this humiliation of the local property cartel. But beware. They’re both after your soul by making you indebted to them through a lifetime of mortgages. When mainland tycoons pay outlandish land prices, the only way they can profit is to charge you outlandish flat prices.

Leung’s property cooling measures have only slowed sales, not driven down prices. It’s time he really walked his talk of affordable homes. Ban mainland tycoons from Hong Kong land sales. Ban mainlanders from buying flats here. Kill the outrageous small-house policy for male villagers to free up land. Tax local tycoons who hoard vacant land. Tax landlords of vacant premises. Slap rent controls on slumlords of subdivided homes. Order the Housing Bureau to undercut local tycoons by flooding the market with subsidised and at-cost flats for qualified buyers.

All this is doable. It just takes guts. If Leung dares do it, I’ll vote for his re-election. Trouble is I don’t have a vote

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