As Donald Tsang Yam-kuen prepares for his second term as chief executive, the hopes and fears of Hong Kong's middle class - the backbone of the community - need to be an important area of policy consideration. In fact, the combined effects of resurgent property prices and stagnant career prospects have seen a slow but discernible rise in anxiety among members of this group.
Classified as professionals, managers and executives, their income exceeds the average annual salary of HK$167,000. Members of this group are typically stressed by three issues; job security, affordable housing and quality of education for their children. The first two issues are putting them on edge despite the fact that Hong Kong's economy has regained a strong foothold in recent years.
Rents have risen 22 per cent on average in the past three years, according to government statistics. Property prices in middle-class residential areas like Taikoo Shing rose 13 per cent in the past year alone. Although this increase appears mild compared with the peak of the property bubble in 1997, middle-class income has been almost stagnant for the past decade.
The monthly income for office executives rose only 8 per cent from 1996 to 2006. Moreover, the percentage of households in the HK$10,000 to HK$40,000 income bracket decreased sharply from 61.2 per cent to 55 per cent over the same period, suggesting downward social mobility for many middle-class families.
Despite protests over the problems of negative equity in early 2000, there have been no policies to tackle property market bubbles and no measures to improve the living conditions of Hongkongers.
Unlike former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, Mr Tsang appears to have quietly dropped housing policies from his agenda since his rise to power.
His silence contrasts with the leadership shown by those in neighbouring cities. Edmund Ho Hau-wah, Macau's chief executive, recently vowed to rein in surging property prices there in light of growing complaints from the public. A Guangzhou delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference publicly criticised the inflationary impact of that city's property boom.