Home values will continue to spiral upwards as a result of a Government policy which is designed to keep property prices high to maintain an essential source of revenues, according to Centaline Property Agency managing director Shih Wing-ching.
The Government should be blamed for the sky-rocketing home prices over the past few years, Mr Shih said after a seminar on the impact of government intervention on the property market.
He said the Government definitely had the power to regulate price movements in the private housing market through the release of land.
However, it did not favour releasing a large supply of land for private developments because that would lead to a drop in land prices and directly hit the Government's revenues.
Land disposal income usually accounted for more than 15 per cent of the total revenues, Mr Shih said.
Any drop in land prices could seriously hit Government income and curtail plans for future expansion in the territory, he said.
The determination to limit supply of land for private developments could be reflected in the Government's decision to increase land supply for subsidised housing developments such as Private Sector Participation Scheme projects and sandwich-class housing, he said.